Americans still take great pride in being American. This despite economic trouble, and political turmoil. As a matter of fact, the nation’s reaction to strife may be one reason for the pride. While China and much of Europe, and nearly all of the Middle East are in disarray and struggling with the democratic process, America is on a much more positive footing, despite political differences.
A new Gallup poll shows:
As the United States celebrates Independence Day, most of its adult residents continue to say they are proud to be an American, including 57% who are extremely proud and 28% who are very proud. This high level of pride in being an American has varied only moderately over the past 12 years since the question was first asked, but has been lower since 2005 than it was in the years prior.
It would be naive to attribute the entire reason for the improvement to an economic recovery, since pride did not drop in any significant way during the downturn.
Actually Gallup points out that the trend is not just long-lived, it persists across the country:
There are few differences by age on this pride dimension, while those in the South are slightly more likely than those in the East and West to say they are proud. Conservatives and Republicans are also slightly more likely to say they are proud than are liberals and Democrats.
Americans do believe that must of the founding basis of the U.S. has disappeared:
Despite their widespread national pride, Americans evince a much more negative response when asked if the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be pleased or disappointed by the way the United States has turned out. Seventy-one percent of Americans say the signers would be disappointed, while 27% say they would be pleased.
At the end of the day, Americans may fell distant from the nation’s roots, but it has not crushed their faith in the American way of life, or the government process.
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