Civic Connections: How Civic Participation Plugs into Social Capital – Social Capital Index metrics report 1

The Utah Foundation’s Social Capital Index project is a series of reports that measure whether Utah is thriving in terms of its “social capital.” Put simply, social capital refers to the ways in which individuals can leverage connections between people and social networks for the benefit of themselves or their community.

Civic engagement is the first of seven categories of social capital. Utah is not doing as well as in previous years:

1. Utah has lost ground in voter turnout after rising to 13^th in the nation in 2018. However, its most recent level of voter turnout – 26^th in the nation – remains much higher than its pre-2016 level, where it never ranked higher than 43^rd in the nation.
2. While Utah is ranked 10^th in the nation in terms of citizen attendance at public meetings, it has fallen from 3^rd place in 2019.
3. When it comes to the number of advocacy funds, Utah has consistently trended below the national average during the past decade.

“The Beehive State shows clear room for improvement in civic engagement,” said Christopher Collard, Research Director of the Utah Foundation. “Sure, Utahns are still regularly attending public meetings, but with this and other measures, our national rankings are slipping.”

Highlights of this Report

• Across three measures of civic engagement, Utah ranks among the top ten for one measure, among the median for another measure, and among the bottom ten for a third measure.
• Voter turnout in Utah improved markedly with the adoption of universal mail-in voting, rising from 44th in 2014 to 13th in 2018. Utah may revert to among the lowest of states with the removal of universal mail-in voting scheduled for 2029.
• Resident attendance at public meetings is a strong point for Utah, although Utah has slipped in recent years from 3rd in the nation in 2019 to 10th.
• When it comes to advocacy funds per $1,000 of personal income, Utah has consistently trended below the nation during the past decade, ranking 43rd.
• Across all three measures of civic engagement, Colorado appears to be the best positioned and Nevada seems to be the worst positioned among the Mountain States.