KENTUCKY — On this week’s In Focus Kentucky program, we’re sitting down with Secretary of State Michael Adams, R-Ky.

Adams is a native of Paducah in McCracken County. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville, attended Harvard Law School and says under his leadership as Secretary of State, his office has done more to make it easy to vote and harder to cheat than his predecessors could do in 200 years.

During this segment, Adams explains why he wants high school students to take a class on civics. He says it’s one of his office’s recommendations to improve people’s understanding of state government.

The 2023 Civic Health Assessment was released this past Tuesday, Jan. 23, gauging people’s civic knowledge, where they get political news and political polarization. It gave the state a “C” rating.

“The good news is we found that Kentuckians are less polarized and more tolerant of other views than the national average, a lot more so. And I think what you saw in my election in November is a ratification of that type of style, that we’re not that polarized. There is a center left in Kentucky politics. But there’s some bad news too. Only half of Kentuckians can tell you there are three branches of government. How in the world was supposed to have self government without an informed electorate, who don’t know even most basic things about the government. We found that less than half of Kentuckians knew things like who their legislators are, or who their local officials are. They know who the governor is and who the president is and that’s great. But to have a functioning government at every level and layer, we’ve got to have people informed about who the local officials are because those people have way more to do with quality of life in Kentucky, then who the president,” shared Adams.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.