STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- 45% are “extremely” proud, the second straight year of sub-50% readings
- 22% of Democrats are extremely proud, down 10 points in one year
- Americans most proud of U.S. scientific success, military; least proud of politics
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Americans prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, their pride in the U.S. has hit its lowest point since Gallup’s first measurement in 2001. While 70% of U.S. adults overall say they are proud to be Americans, this includes fewer than half (45%) who are “extremely” proud, marking the second consecutive year that this reading is below the majority level. Democrats continue to lag far behind Republicans in expressing extreme pride in the U.S.
These findings are explored further with new measurements of the public’s pride in eight aspects of U.S. government and society. American scientific achievements, military and culture/arts engender the most pride, while the U.S. political system and health and welfare system garner the least.
Decreasing Percentage in U.S. Are Extremely Proud to Be American
U.S. adults’ extreme pride in being American has been steadily weakening in recent years, […]
I am ashamed of being an american, of what has become normalized in this country. The 4th of July marks a brave revolution to end a tyrannical monarchy and, with all its flaws and very obvious omissions, it was a revolution to create an experimental democracy that inspired many other countries as well. As far as I’m concerned (and people like former president Carter has said the same) that courageous experiment is over, and this country has a new tyrannical monarchy in the form of an oligarchy of corporate interests and the entitled 1%. Trump’s comments and behaviors reflect that every single day – as Louis the 14th of France said, “Apres moi la deluge” (After me, the deluge). That is the attitude of our new american “aristocracy” too.
Bill Moyers, after the 2016 election, wrote an eloquent article titled “Farewell to America”, and I remember it well. I will not be celebrating the 4th of July.
I totally agree with you, Lauren. When I was a child (70 some years ago), I was proud of the U.S.A., but now it has withered into an aristocracy headed by the most corrupt government in our history, and our “War Machine” (military-industrial-banking-complex) wants to spread war all over the world and cares nothing about it’s destruction of our democracy and our natural world as the oceans, the air, and the flora and fauna disappear before our eyes. “We” are killing the world we live in and are leaving nothing for future generations.