August 18, 2025 (The Rod & Greg Show) - Shawn Teigen, President of the Utah Foundation, joins Rod and Greg to discuss his recent op-ed piece in the Deseret News about why social capital, the way people utilize social connections to benefit themselves, matters to Utah.
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August 14, 2025 (Deseret News) - Utah is often ranked at the top among states, but is occasionally at the bottom. Due in part to the Beehive State’s demographics, we are sometimes number 1, but other times … not so much. For instance, we have the largest families, and in fact, are number 1 in the nation for family size. Relatedly, however, we spend less per student on K-12 education than any other state in the country. Another top-of-the-nation for Utah … Continued
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August 14, 2025 (Yahoo.com) - Utah is often ranked at the top among states, but is occasionally at the bottom. Due in part to the Beehive State’s demographics, we are sometimes number 1, but other times … not so much. For instance, we have the largest families, and in fact, are number 1 in the nation for family size. Relatedly, however, we spend less per student on K-12 education than any other state in the country. Another top-of-the-nation for Utah … Continued
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August 04, 2025 (KUER) - The story is about 2:49 into the audio.
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July 16, 2025 (Standard-Examiner) - …Utah lawmakers often campaign on conservative, free-market principles. They warn of government overreach and celebrate Utah’s economic dynamism. But when it comes to housing policy, their actions suggest a different playbook — one that funnels benefits to politically connected developers and other real-estate interests. At a time when Utah voters rank housing affordability as their No. 1 concern, according to a September 2024 Utah Foundation report, that disconnect deserves scrutiny…
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July 15, 2025 (City Cast) - Did you vote in the last election? When was the last city council meeting you went to? New research shows Utahns across the board are participating less in their communities, and that has consequences. Here’s what to know and some ways to flex that muscle. Utah Slips in Civic Engagement The Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, recently released a report measuring the state’s social capital, defined as “the ways in which individuals can leverage … Continued
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July 11, 2025 (KSL) - Utah has lost ground compared to the rest of the nation when it comes to the level of civic engagement in recent years, according to a new report from the Utah Foundation. The report — part of the foundation’s series focusing on “social capital” in the Beehive State — tracked three metrics of civic engagement: voter turnout, public meeting attendance and donations to advocacy groups. Utah’s overall and relative public meeting attendance has decreased since … Continued
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July 10, 2025 (Cache Valley Daily) - Utah continues to demonstrate high levels of social capital—defined as the value of social networks and trust within communities—but recent trends suggest declines in civic engagement may threaten that strength, according to new research from the Utah Foundation. The two-part report, released in June and July, highlights how Utahns benefit from strong community ties, family networks, and social trust. These attributes contribute to better education, health outcomes, economic mobility, and disaster resilience. “Social capital is … Continued
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July 10, 2025 (KUER) - The story is about 3:16 into the audio.
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June 26, 2025 (KPCW) - …Utah women’s priorities in the 2024 elections were housing affordability, politicians listening to voters, inflation and government overreach, among others, according to the Utah Foundation. Women also tended to prioritize abortion and women’s rights while men ranked issues like crime and immigration higher up…
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June 25, 2025 (Utah News Dispatch) - …Utah women’s priorities in the 2024 elections were housing affordability, politicians listening to voters, inflation and government overreach, among others, according to the Utah Foundation. Women also tended to prioritize abortion and women’s rights while men ranked issues like crime and immigration higher up…
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June 20, 2025 (Utah Public Radio) - On this episode, we talk with Utah Foundation President Shawn Teigen about social capital, which they define as “…the bonds between people and among networks, which they can use to benefit themselves and the group as a whole.” The Utah Foundation released a report on social capital in Utah in 2021 and they are preparing to release an update. We’ll talk about social trust, social cohesion, civic engagement, community life, family health, and other factors.
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June 19, 2025 (KSL) - Shawn Teigen from the Utah Foundation and Jonathan Freedman from World Trade Center Utah discuss mining in Iron County.
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June 18, 2025 (Utah State Today) - …Three recent surveys studied Utahn’s priorities and found multiple differences by gender. 1. The 2024 Utah Foundation survey found that housing affordability and politicians listening to voters were the top priorities for both men and women, followed closely by government overreach and inflation. A notable difference was that men included immigration in their top 10 priorities, while women included homelessness…
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May 28, 2025 (Salt Lake Tribune) - …Saturday’s results will reveal if his message has resonated with delegates. According to a recent report by the Utah Foundation, delegates trend much older than other registered Democrats. Roughly 58% of Democratic delegates were born in the ’60s or earlier. By contrast, 61% of Utah’s larger Democratic electorate was born after 1980…
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May 17, 2025 (Deseret News) - …The Utah Foundation recently published a survey showing that while there are more women voters in our state than men, women make up only 37% of Republican delegates. Because one must attend their biannual caucus meeting in person on a Tuesday in March to become a delegate, voters with young children, disabilities or who work during evening hours are vastly underrepresented in the pool of delegates…
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May 15, 2025 (Axios) - A new report reveals ideological divides and priority gaps between Utah’s party delegates and the voters they aim to represent. State of play: Republican and Democratic delegates appeared more pessimistic than voters about the state’s trajectory, according to the report by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan policy research organization. By the numbers: 84% of Democratic and 55% of Republican delegates said the state is heading in the wrong direction, compared with Democratic (79%) and Republican … Continued
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May 15, 2025 (KSL.com) - …Candidates chosen by the delegates have historically underperformed in Republican primary elections — gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman and Senate candidate Trent Staggs are recent examples who lost their primary after winning at convention — and a new survey released by the Utah Foundation Wednesday found that the median Republican delegate is more conservative than the median GOP voter. “In terms of issue priorities, Republican delegates place less importance on a few items like housing, roads … Continued
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May 15, 2025 (KSL News Radio) - Utah Foundation president Shawn Teigen spoke with Maria Shilaos about where delegates and voters align and diverge.
May 15, 2025 (Utah News Dispatch) - A report by the Utah Foundation found that even though party delegates tend to be more pessimistic than their voter counterparts, in general “their ideological positions show notable alignment with voters.” (Illustration by Alex Cochran for Utah News Dispatch) A new report released days before Utah Republican Party delegates will gather to select their new chair offers some insights about where Utah’s delegates “align and diverge” with other voters in their own parties. The report published by the Utah Foundation — … Continued
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May 15, 2025 (Salt Lake Tribune) - …Generally, Republican delegates tend to lean much further to the right than the rest of Utah’s GOP electorate — a possible advantage for Lyman. A poll published this week by the Utah Foundation found that “all delegates, regardless of party, are more likely than voters to be men, actively religious, older, and white, and have more education and higher incomes.” GOP delegates surveyed were more likely than Republican voters to be focused on tax cuts. … Continued
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May 15, 2025 (Yahoo) - A report by the Utah Foundation found that even though party delegates tend to be more pessimistic than their voter counterparts, in general “their ideological positions show notable alignment with voters.” (Illustration by Alex Cochran for Utah News Dispatch) A new report released days before Utah Republican Party delegates will gather to select their new chair offers some insights about where Utah’s delegates “align and diverge” with other voters in their own parties. The report … Continued
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May 05, 2025 (Fox 13) - Fed up with the difficulty of running a citizen ballot initiative, a group of people are asking the Utah Supreme Court to directly intervene. Calling themselves the “Citizen’s Initiative Reform Committee,” they intend to file a writ of extraordinary relief on Tuesday with the state’s top court asking to reinstate some rejected provisions of their proposed initiative and send a message to Utah’s Capitol Hill. “We’re so fed up with the way we’ve been treated … Continued
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May 01, 2025 (Deseret News) - Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Americans must look beyond politics for the solution to the country’s problems. “We do need, I believe, a religious revival,” Cox told the Deseret News. Cox spoke Thursday at the annual luncheon of the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. The subject of his remarks was social capital, an academic term used to describe the connections that create high-trust communities. Multiple surveys have identified Utah as having the highest level … Continued
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May 01, 2025 (Yahoo) - Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Americans must look beyond politics for the solution to the country’s problems. “We do need, I believe, a religious revival,” Cox told the Deseret News. Cox spoke Thursday at the annual luncheon of the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. The subject of his remarks was social capital, an academic term used to describe the connections that create high-trust communities. Multiple surveys have identified Utah as having the highest level … Continued
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