How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life

Americans’ engagement with others is not one-dimensional. Rather than falling along a single spectrum, U.S. adults sort into four distinct groups that reflect different patterns of participation:

1. Mobilizers (9% of U.S. adults) are the most active across all the different areas. They volunteer, attend local government meetings, donate to political causes, follow the news closely and attend religious services at high rates. What sets them apart most clearly is their political action: They are by far the most likely to do things like volunteer for campaigns and contact elected officials.
2. Connectors (28%) are involved in many ways, centering on community life, charitable giving and religious attendance. They vote, participate in groups, attend religious services and donate to nonpolitical causes at high rates, similar to Mobilizers. But they are much less likely to take political action.
3. Spectators (31%) are much less likely than Mobilizers and Connectors to participate in civic or political activities, but they follow the news at similarly high rates. When they engage with news online, Spectators tend to do so by privately chatting about it or liking posts rather than publicly commenting or posting. They stand out for their internet use—56% say they use the internet “almost constantly.”
4. Outsiders (31%) participate at relatively low levels across the activities measured in this study, including following the news. Still, they are not universally disengaged: 41% say they voted in 2024, and 24% attend religious services at least monthly.