2023 ARKANSAS CIVIC HEALTH INDEX

Abstract

The main source of information in this report is periodic supplements-on topics such as voting, civic engagement, and volunteering-to the U.S Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), which poses questions to approximately 60,000 households around the U.S. From that data, this report focuses on: 1) levels of political, civic, and social engagement among Arkansans, 2) comparisons of Arkansas with U.S. national averages, and 3) characteristics that may be associated with participation, such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, income, and education. The survey findings reported here, unless otherwise noted, are obtained from the CPS data, which cover the years 1972through 2020, and the precise year for data is noted in each section. Other sources of numerical data in the report are J. O. Ajayi and M. Kalulu, Access Arkansas: County and City Web Transparency (4th ed., 2023);1 the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement; the American National Election Studies 2020 time-series study; data on local newspaper availability from the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media; and data on ownership of local radio stations from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Moreover, the report presents qualitative results of interviews with Arkansas nonprofit leaders, civic leaders, public-engagement professionals, and residents about coalitions across sectors to address social issues, as well as political, civic, and social engagement and local civic spaces. While the report's quantitative findings are based on a scientifically valid and representative sample of residents, each estimate features a small margin of error; as a result, small differences in percentages may not be statistically significant.