By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

Much has been made of a recent British survey claiming to show a majority of British Gen-Zers prefer a dictatorship. Subsequent polls thankfully show this is exaggerated. And while I found some college students know more than you might think, a number of them believe the president has a lot more power than the Constitution allows.

According to The Policy Institute, “A recent poll suggested as many as 52% of 13- to 27-year-olds agree that ‘the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections.’ This was widely covered in the media, with headlines suggesting it shows that ‘More than half of Gen Z believe Britain should be ruled by a dictator with no elections.’ But our new research, conducted with Focaldata, suggests this is not a true reflection of Gen Z opinion, and a more accurate figure is that just 6% of 13- to 27-year-olds actually agree the UK would be a better place with a dictator who does not face control from MPs in Parliament and does not have to hold elections.”

While it’s reassuring that we’re not about to experience some “V is for Vendetta” dystopia across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom, that’s still six percent too many. It got me thinking about American college students, especially in this polarized political environment, as well as evidence of increasing tolerance of authoritarian tendencies in the U.S. and elsewhere abroad. Do younger voters know enough about the Constitutional checks and balances? What do they know and what do they not know?

The good news is that students get many questions right. In a recent quiz I gave several of them, they understood a lot. All knew the bureaucracy wasn’t a branch of government, though more than half thought it served Congress. All knew that Congress makes the laws, and 92 percent got answers right about the checks and balances and separation of powers. A majority recognized the U.S. Senate as the upper branch of the legislature.

Nearly half thought that our federal system meant that the national government was supreme. Only a quarter of them recognized that the federal system involves power sharing between national as well as state and local governments. But federalism is something political science students almost always struggle with before taking college classes.

But here’s the most disturbing part of my survey. While more than 80 percent properly recognized that the courts could overturn an Act of Congress, a majority thought the judiciary could not overturn a president’s executive order.

That’s a pretty alarming result.

I know people blame “coaches teaching government and history,” but I haven’t seen any evidence of this. I’ve taught a number of sports coaches who are not only passionate about these social studies, but highly effective teachers. My own education in Texas did not teach that presidents could issue executive orders with impunity. And remember how conservatives used to call out President Obama’s executive orders? But in more recent years, we’ve seen a greater deference to the actions of the chief executive, and a scramble to comply, along with threats of impeachment for federal judges who issue rulings against executive orders.

If we’re ever going to avoid going down the path of authoritarianism, we need to educate everyone, not just students, on what the Constitution clearly states and allows. And our Founding Fathers most definitely did not create an imperial presidency.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.