Tennessee

Citizenship & Democracy

The United States is a representative democracy. We choose our leaders and hold them accountable through elections. Those leaders are responsible for upholding the Constitution, which includes respecting civil liberties, separation of powers between branches of government, and the rule of law. Our elected officials are also obligated to maintain free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power, and to lead with civility, truth, and transparency. But the responsibility of democratic government cannot be limited to elected leaders alone. Our citizens also have important responsibilities, including being informed, holding elected officials accountable through voting, tolerating those who are different and have divergent views from our own, and engaging more broadly in civic affairs. The rights of citizens go hand in hand with these responsibilities.

Summary of Results.

Tennessee's progress in this area has been mixed. Child mortality is improving over time. Youth depression is worsening over time. Both the percentage of children born at low birthweights and the percentage of children living with a single parent are remaining relatively stable.

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  • Voter Participation
    Specific Measure

    Percentage of the voting-age citizen population who voted in presidential and congressional elections

    (Source: Census Bureau).
    State Rank
    State vs. US trend
    48

    Why did we include this measure?

    Democracy is rooted in elections and its success depends on citizens holding their leaders accountable by voting. Voting is also a signal of how engaged citizens are in public affairs.

    View Voter Participation Nationwide

    Tennessee State Trend Improving

How to Read This Report:

We report each measure three different ways: State Rank, State Trend, State vs. US Trend. Each result is color coded as either red (negative/worsening), yellow (neutral/stable), or green (positive/improving), as indicated below. If the simple trends were erratic, had too few data points, or had no data points, we do not color code and label the trend as “mixed,” "unclear," or "NA," respectively.

State Rank

(Where are we now?)

State Trend

(Where are we going?)

State vs. US Trend

(How do we compare?)

Top third

Improving

Improving relative to the national trend and improving 2+ rank spots

Middle third

No significant change

No difference compared with national trend or change in rank by <2 spots

Bottom third

Worsening

Worsening relative to national trend and declining 2+ rank spots

Not applicable

Distinct periods of improving and worsening

(Only for measures with >1 series.) One series is improving and another is worsening

Not applicable

Not enough data to establish a trend

NA

No data

For more information on our definitions and methods, please see the Data Notes section.