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TOPLINE
Only 42% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely proud,” and just 21% say they are “very proud” to be American, according to a new Gallup poll released Monday; both readings are the lowest recorded since Gallup’s initial measurement in 2001.
DENVER, COLORADO – MAY 29: A protester holds up a flag outside the Ralph Carr Judicial Center during … [+]
Denver Post via Getty Images
KEY FACTS
Protests and demonstrations railing against police brutality and systemic racism have gripped the country in the three weeks since George Floyd died while in police custody.
In addition, the U.S. has surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, by far the highest reported total in the world, with many Americans blaming the current administration for lack of preparedness and foresight.
Per Monday’s poll (conducted May 28-June 4 in a survey of 1,034 adults living in all 50 U.S. states) pride in the U.S. has hit its lowest point since Gallup started asking about it in 2001, with just over 40% of adults surveyed saying they’re “extremely” proud to be Americans.
15% of Americans say they are “moderately proud,” 12% “only a little proud,” and 9% “not at all proud.”
Republicans have historically been more likely than Democrats to declare extreme pride.
However, Monday’s poll finds a 9% decrease in Republicans’ national pride (falling from 76% to 67%), which is the largest year-over-year decline on record.
Extreme national pride among whites has fallen below 50% for the first time this century, according to Gallup, and is at just 24% among nonwhites.
Only one-fifth of all adults aged 18-to-29 said they were “extremely proud.”
Key Background:
In 2001, just before September 11th, Gallup poll found that 55% of U.S. adults felt extreme pride in America. In the years after the attacks, American pride rose dramatically, with 69% and 70% feeling “extremely proud” between 2002 and 2004. However, beginning in 2005, those numbers started trending downward. According to Gallup, pride has hit all-time lows in the three years since President Trump was elected, especially among Democrats. In 2016, the final year of the Obama presidency, 45% of Dems classified themselves as extremely proud. This year, just as last year, that number sits at 24%. 2019 saw a record 54-point gap in the percentages of Republicans and Democrats who were extremely proud to be Americans. That gap is narrower this year (43 points) because of the decline in Republican pride, but remains much larger than before.
Tangent:
In a poll conducted by Pew Research Center that was released last week, six in 10 Americans said they disapprove of President Trump’s “message in response to the” George Floyd protests, a sign the president’s calls for “law and order” and combative rhetoric toward demonstrations could be backfiring. The Pew poll found just 37% of Americans believe Trump delivered the right message in the wake of Floyd’s death and unrest that spread throughout the country. Black Americans (85%) were much more likely than white Americans (52%) to say Trump’s message was wrong.
Further Reading:
Republicans Are Breaking From Trump Like We’ve Never Seen (Forbes)
Poll: Majority Of Americans Disapprove Of Trump’s Protest Rhetoric (Forbes)
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