American Patriotism Dips to a New Low. NewsWire

NewsWire: 7/26/22

• The share of U.S. adults who are “extremely proud” to be an American has fallen to 38%, a record low. This percentage is down nearly 20 percentage points from a decade ago. (Gallup)
• NH: Since 2001, Gallup has asked Americans to rate their pride in being an American. And according to the 2022 survey, only 38% of US adults are "extremely proud" to be a US citizen. That's down -19 percentage points since 2012 and marks a record low. 

• Unsurprisingly, a greater share of Republicans than Democrats are "extremely proud" (58% vs. 26%). Nonetheless, this is the lowest reading ever for Republicans. It's only the third lowest reading for Democrats. Already during the Trump years, patriotism among liberals had plummeted. 

• Looking long-term, national pride has been falling since 2004. The first big decline, in the mid-2000s, came after the 9/11 spike in patriotism wore off and the nation soured on the "war on terror" invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Measures held steady after that--until 2016, when Democratic patriotism plummeted (even while Republican patriotism rose to a lesser extent). Since 2020, it has been the mirror image: Republican patriotism fell, offset only partially by a rise in Democratic patriotism.
• Across all parties, overall patriotism seems to be sinking due to growing pessimism about America's long-term future and growing discontent over polarization and policy gridlock.
• Yet despite these record low readings, Americans are still very patriotic by any absolute reckoning. When you combine the share who are "extremely proud" and "very proud" the total is 65%. 
• Even today, among major nations, America remain the most patriotic country on earth. A YouGov-Cambridge poll in 2019 asked people around the world if they believed their country is the best in the world. Only 10% of UK respondents said yes. Only 6% of the French. And only 5% of Germans. By far the biggest positive response was from Americans, at 37%.