Americans’ pride in US history and democracy drops, and fewer are proud to be American, polls find
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- AP-NORC poll finds Americans' pride in how democracy works fell 14 percentage points — from 42% in February 2017 to 28% now — while pride in the armed forces dropped 19 points and pride in U.S. history fell 14 points over the same period.
- Gallup reports only 53% of U.S. adults are "extremely" or "very" proud to be an American, the lowest reading in its trend dating back to 2001.
- Democrats are driving most of the decline, with just 14% saying they are "extremely" proud to be American, compared with 28% of independents and 70% of Republicans.
- Republicans remain especially proud of the military — about 9 in 10 say it makes them "extremely" or "very" proud, versus roughly 6 in 10 U.S. adults overall.
- Older Americans tie national identity more tightly to self-image: about three-quarters of those 60 and older say being American is highly important to their identity, versus roughly one-third of adults under 30.
- Black Americans are more likely to anchor identity in race than nationality, with 73% saying race or ethnicity is "extremely" or "very" important to how they see themselves — higher than the share who say the same about being American.
- The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16–20 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Why it matters: The 56-point gap between Republican (70%) and Democratic (14%) 'extremely proud' responses shows patriotism has become a tribal identity marker rather than shared civic ground. With pride in the military down 19 points and in democracy down 14 points since 2017, institutions and leaders who rely on unifying national symbols are operating over a far narrower consensus than a decade ago.
