American pride hits all-time low

July 4th is the US Independence Day, but the data released by the polling company Gallup on the 2nd somewhat “destroyed the festive atmosphere”. The poll showed that Americans’ patriotic enthusiasm has weakened. The poll was conducted from June 1 to 13 this year, and the investigators interviewed 1,520 adults living in various states and Washington, D.C. by phone. The results showed that 47% of the respondents felt “extremely proud” to be Americans, 25% felt “very proud”, and 16% felt “moderately proud”. This is the first time since Gallup conducted a poll on patriotism in 2001 that the proportion of respondents who felt “extremely proud” to be Americans has fallen below 50%, reaching the lowest level in history. If the proportion of respondents who chose “extremely proud” and “very proud” is added together, the figure of 72% is also the lowest record in Gallup’s surveys. Last year, 51% of the respondents felt “extremely proud” to be Americans. This has shrunk significantly compared with the peak of 70% in 2003. Other public opinion polls also reflect similar trends. An MTV/AP-NORC poll in May this year showed that young people aged 15-26 tend to think that the word “patriotic” is more suitable to describe their parents than themselves. Respondents who have children also believe that they are more patriotic than the next generation. When Gallup launched the patriotism survey in 2001, 55% of respondents said they were “extremely proud” to be Americans. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, public patriotism was further stimulated, and the proportion of people who were “extremely proud” of their country rose to 65%, and less than two years later it rose to 70%. In 2005, during Bush Jr.’s second term, two years after the United States launched the Iraq War, this figure dropped to 61%. From 2006 to 2013, the figure remained above 50%. However, since 2015, Americans’ pride has been declining slightly every year.