WashingtonAccording to a recent Gallup poll, only 36% of Democrats say they are very or very proud to be American, indicating a sharp drop in national pride that is especially evident among young people.
The results provide a clear example of how, over the past ten years, many Americans—though not all—have felt less proud of their nation. At 56 percentage points, the gap between Republicans and Democrats is the largest since 2001. That covers the whole four-year first term of Republican President Donald Trump.
According to Gallup polls done over the last five years, only roughly 4 out of 10 American adults who belong to Generation Z—defined as those born between 1997 and 2012—expressed a high degree of pride in being American. This is in contrast to at least 7 out of 10 earlier generations of U.S. adults and almost 6 out of 10 Millennials, who were born between 1980 and 1996.
According to Jeffrey Jones, a senior editor at Gallup, each generation is less patriotic than the one before it, and Gen Z is unquestionably considerably less patriotic than anyone else. However, we observe that even the elder generations are less patriotic than their predecessors, and this has been the case over time. Among those generations, Democrats are the main force behind that.
A gradual decline in pride in the country
Since January 2001, when the question was originally posed, Gallup’s data has shown a continuous drop in America’s sense of national pride.
The overwhelming majority of American people, regardless of party affiliation, expressed pride in being American, even throughout the turbulent early years of the Iraq War. Approximately 90% of people felt extremely or very proud to be Americans at that time. The consensus about American pride declined in the years that followed, falling to roughly 8 out of 10 in 2006 and continuing a steady slide, while it remained high in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
In a declining trend that has been mostly driven by Democrats and independents, 58% of American adults now agree that. The overwhelming majority of Republicans still express pride in their American identity.
In keeping with that pattern of steady decrease, independents’ pride in their national identification reached a new low in the most recent survey, at 53%.
There is a stronger correlation between Trump’s tenure in power and Democrats’ decreased sense of pride in being Americans. About two-thirds of Democrats declared themselves proud to be Americans when Trump took office in 2017. By 2020, right before Trump lost reelection to Democrat Joe Biden, that had dropped to 42%.
Although Democrats’ sense of patriotism increased after Biden was elected, it did not return to its pre-Trump levels.
Jones stated, “It’s not just a Trump story.” Another thing is happening, and I believe it’s simply that younger generations are entering the country and aren’t as patriotic as previous generations.
On patriotism, Republicans and Democrats disagree.
Democrats and independents are less likely than Republicans to believe that expressing patriotism is vital or to be proud of their country’s leaders, according to other recent polls.
According to a 2024 SSRS poll, nearly 90% of Republicans stated they thought patriotism had a positive effect on the US, while Democrats were more split, with 45% saying it had a positive effect and 37% saying it had a negative one.
However, a CNN/SSRS poll earlier this year revealed that less than one in ten Democrats and Republicans stated that they were proud of the way they felt about American politics today, indicating a more widespread sense of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle.
According to that survey, the majority of Americans, regardless of their party affiliation, expressed disappointment or frustration with the nation’s political system.
