Poll finds only around half of Democrats are proud to be patriotic Americans

The United States just marked its 249th anniversary of being the greatest nation in the history of human civilization, but a disconcertingly large percentage of one of the country’s two major political parties likely disagrees with the first part of this sentence.

A recent poll found that only around 50% of Democrats consider themselves to be patriotic and proud Americans, according to the New York Post.

Compare that to the more than 90% of Republicans who are proud to be an American, and it becomes clear that a disturbing partisan divide has developed over the fundamental concept of patriotism and pride in one’s country.

Only half of Democrats are proud to be Americans

The New Jersey-based and GOP-aligned polling firm National Research Inc. recently surveyed a representative sample of 1,000 registered voters and discovered that while 91% of Republicans described themselves as patriotic Americans, just 50% of Democrats gave themselves the same label.

The results were nearly identical when factoring in the 2024 vote of respondents, as 90% of those who voted for President Donald Trump said they were patriots, while only 55% of those who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris said the same.

It was essentially the same story when the poll results were broken down along ideological lines, with 87% of conservatives considering themselves to be patriots, compared to 51% of liberals who thought similarly of themselves.

Adam Geller, the founder of National Research, who previously worked for Trump’s successful 2016 campaign, told the Post that the disparate results of the survey likely stemmed from “a little leftover saltiness” among Democrats about last year’s election, and lamented that “we need to have a country where even if you don’t love the president, you’re still proud to be an American — you still hold those values.”

National pride tumbles among Democrats, younger generations

Unfortunately, that poll is likely not an outlier, as Gallup recently surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults and found that a “record-low” 58% of Americans stated that they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, which is down nearly 10 points from last year, with that decline almost entirely attributable to Democrats.

Last year, Gallup reported that around 62% of Democrats said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, but that number has plunged to just 36% this year, which is even lower than the dismal 42% of proud American Democrats in 2020, the previous low mark for that cohort.

Meanwhile, except for the few years that former President Joe Biden held office, during which GOP pride in America dipped to the mid-80s, the tally of Republicans who are “extremely” or “very” proud to be American has largely held steady above 90%.

Sadly, that partisan lack of pride in their nation is particularly evident in the younger generations, with just 44% of Millennials and only 24% of Gen Z Democrats feeling proud of the country, compared to 87% and 65%, respectively, among Republicans of those generations.

Gallup surmised that some of the reasons for the decline in patriotism among Democrats, and especially the youngest generations, likely included “greater pessimism about the economic prospects for young people, widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the nation, greater ideological divides between the parties, unfavorable images of both parties, and intense partisan rancor during the Trump and Biden administrations.”

At least one Democrat is still “unapologetically” proud of his country

The Post noted that one prominent Democrat who remains exceedingly proud of his American heritage is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who noted in a July 4th X post the Gallup survey results that showed only 36% of his fellow Democrats were “extremely or very proud” to be an American.

“In the greatest country in the world, that’s just wrong,” the Pennsylvania senator wrote. “I’m unapologetically grateful for our nation and the American Way of Life — today, and always. Happy Birthday, America.”

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