WASHINGTON — A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Americans have become significantly less proud of their country’s history and democratic system over the past ten years.
The survey, conducted in April during a period when the United States and Iran were engaged in an ongoing conflict following joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, found that pride across several key national attributes has fallen since 2017 — including the country’s military and its political influence on the world stage.
Separate new Gallup polling reinforces those findings, showing that just 53% of American adults describe themselves as “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. That marks the lowest point in Gallup’s trend on this question, which stretches back to 2001.
Researchers say the decline reflects a broader erosion of patriotic feeling during a turbulent stretch of American life — one that spans much of President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a period of rising inflation that fueled voter frustration with President Joe Biden. The timeframe also includes Trump’s return to the presidency, during which he has pursued more aggressive stances on immigration and foreign policy.
Democrats account for much of the drop. The party’s members have grown increasingly disillusioned with the country since Trump’s first term.
Despite the declining pride, most Americans still say that being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity — suggesting that a sense of national belonging persists even as criticism of the country’s past and present grows.
Pride in the way American democracy functions has dropped 14 percentage points since February 2017, falling from 42% to 28%. Pride in the U.S. armed forces has declined 19 percentage points over the same period, and pride in the nation’s history is down 14 points. In each case, Democrats are the primary driver of the decline, with some movement among independents as well.
Karla Galdamez, a 48-year-old Democrat and former U.S. history teacher from California, feels the country has gone backward under the current administration. While she is not proud of Trump, she says she takes pride in how much the country has accomplished over 250 years.
“It’s a country that really wanted to be different and really wanted to be better,” she said. “Despite some of the very ugly history that we have of segregation and slavery … if you look at the trajectory of the last 250 years, we’ve done nothing but get better and move toward a more egalitarian nation.”
According to the new Gallup poll, only 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they are “extremely” proud to be American, compared with 70% of Republicans.
The AP-NORC poll found that Republicans are particularly proud of the nation’s military. About nine in ten Republicans say the armed forces make them “extremely” or “very” proud, compared with roughly six in ten Americans overall.
Samantha Fulks, a 40-year-old Republican from San Antonio, Texas, wears her patriotism openly. She flies an American flag in her front yard, displays Trump flags in the back, and plans to dress in red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Fulks comes from a military family and, while she questions the necessity of U.S. involvement in Iran, she remains firmly behind the troops.
“I still support our troops no matter what they do,” Fulks said.
Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old from Massachusetts, is proud to be American but finds the country’s political system deeply frustrating. He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to symbolize the United States, its freedoms, and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for as a country.” A self-described centrist who calls himself “politically homeless,” Stafford wants both parties to stop pulling toward the extremes and start focusing on everyday Americans.
“I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes,” he said.
The polls also highlight how deeply partisanship shapes national identity. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats or independents to say being an American is highly important to who they are as a person.
A generational divide also stands out. About three-quarters of Americans age 60 and older say being American is highly important to their identity, compared with only about one-third of adults under 30.
The AP-NORC survey found that 73% of Black Americans say their race or ethnicity is “extremely” or “very” important to how they see themselves — a higher share than those who say the same about being American.
Vincent Harris, a 60-year-old from California, says his identity as a Black man takes precedence because of the way Black men are treated in this country.
“A lot of people are scared of Black men just because we are Black and we are male. And that’s crazy,” Harris said. “People don’t even take you for who you are as a person; they just look at your race.”
About half of Hispanic Americans say their race or ethnicity is highly important to their identity, compared with 22% of white Americans. Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white adults to say their family ancestry or country of origin plays a significant role in how they see themselves.
Harris, who also identifies as a gay man, says that despite the challenges he has faced, being an American is still something he values deeply because of the freedoms it provides.
“It’s great to be an American — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or whatever. As long as you have that freedom of choice as an American, that’s a great thing,” Harris said. “Right now, I wouldn’t live in any other country in the world. I’m here. I love it.”
The AP-NORC poll surveyed 2,596 adults between April 16 and 20, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
