Americans with extreme national pride hovers near record low, poll shows
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The share of U.S. adults who say they're extremely or very proud to be an American remains among the lowest levels recorded since 2001.
Why it matters: As fireworks rocket toward the heavens this Fourth of July, the percentage of Americans who feel extreme pride in their nation hovers near its record low in a year marked by international conflict, legal woes at the highest levels of government and an unprecedented presidential election.
By the numbers: In the most recent Gallup polling of Americans' national pride, 41% of respondents considered themselves "extremely proud" to be an American, and an additional 26% said they were "very proud."
The big picture: The downward slope hit its lowest in 2020, when only 63% of those surveyed said they were very or extremely proud to be an American.
- And in 2022, the number of Gallup respondents citing extreme pride in their American nationality plummeted to a record low: 38%.
- The years after 9/11 saw a much larger share of Americans reporting extreme pride, with peaking at 70% in 2003.
Zoom in: Americans' perspectives of patriotism display stark partisan divides.
- In the latest Gallup poll, 59% of Republicans cited extreme pride, compared to just 34% of Democrats and 36% of Independents.
Yes, but: Even the share of Republicans who feel extreme national pride is declining: This year's 59% is statistically tied with Republicans' 58% record low in 2022, Gallup found.
Context: Broad questions about patriotism and celebrations of American independence can evoke complicated emotions — notably for communities of color. Simply put, patriotism means different things to different people.
- White respondents in a Syracuse-Ipsos poll were much more likely to say strong patriotism strengthens the country's place in the world (56%) than Black respondents (34%) or Hispanic respondents (43%).
- "These results don't mean that these Americans don't love being Americans or don't want to protect the values and freedoms of our country, but it does mean that they have concerns about some of the history or structural inequities that are baked into the country," said Margaret Talev, the director of the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy Journalism and Citizenship and an Axios senior contributor.
What they're saying: Steven Smith, Yale's Alfred Cowles professor of political science and author of "Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes," touts a definition of patriotism that has the capacity for self-reflection, rather than one characterized by blind loyalty and militant aggression. But that introspective patriotism, he said, is endangered.
- "Patriotism can and should be what I call lowercase virtue, that is, a part of everyday life," he said. "It doesn't necessarily require big crisis moments to come to the fore."
Between the lines: Celebrations of American independence have often coincided with times of national strife and reckoning, notably amid 2020 protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd and following the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
- This year is no different for Alan Chavoya — who spent the last two Fourth of July holidays marching through Milwaukee for women's reproductive rights, police reform and other social causes.
- The son of Mexican immigrants and the director of outreach for Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Chavoya said his levels of American pride have been low to non-existent throughout his life, and he associates the word "patriot" with naiveté and willful ignorance.
- "Being able to come to together as a community to really fight for justice, the rare moments where we do get it, it does make me believe that certain things can function alright in this country," he said, pointing to the excessive force conviction of Derek Chauvin as a glimmer of accountability.
- "But that's honestly less so pride in the government ... it's more so of the people that live here, the working class people, the people who are willing to really make things better," he added.
The bottom line: Patriotism can be a loaded word — and Fourth of July means more than a day off for burgers and beers to many.
- Polling experts say that understanding patriotism often requires questioning an individual's definition of the word rather than measuring a binary choice between national pride or shame in one's citizenship.
