Given the political, social, and cultural drama that has perennially saturated the nation for the better part of a decade, it should hardly come as a revelation that pride among many Americans has plunged. In a recently released Gallup poll, 58% of Americans stated that they were “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be Americans. This was the lowest percentage recorded since Gallup first asked this question in January 2001, when 87% of those polled described themselves as “extremely” or “very proud.” Additionally, 19% said they were “moderately” proud, 11% said they were “only a little” proud, and 9% said they were “not at all” proud. The combined 20% on the lower end of the pride scale is nearly tied with the record 21% measured in 2020. Until 2018, less than 10% of U.S. adults had consistently said they had little or no national pride.

Such findings were based on the degree of pride that different generational groups have espoused over recurring five-year periods since 2001. The resulting statistical data allowed for vibrant comparisons at various time intervals among specific age groups as well as examinations of differences over time. There was a generational aspect of American pride, in that each successive generation was markedly less inclined than the preceding one to declare that it was intensely or very proud to be an American.

In the Gallup poll, the youngest two generations, millennials (1980–1997) and Generation Z (1998–2012), were most distinct. Since 2021, only 41% of adults who belonged to Generation Z considered themselves “extremely” or “very proud” to be Americans, as opposed to 58% of millennials. The level of pride gradually augmented among older age demographics: 71% of Generation X, (1965–1980), 75% of baby boomers (1946–1964), and 83% of the Silent Generation (1925–1945) polled expressed satisfaction with the national climate. Generational pride aside, every single age demographic from millennials through the Silent Generation revealed declines of 10 or more percentage points since the beginning of the 21st century.

Political affiliation revealed dramatic distinctions. Democrats of all age groups were more inclined to feel less content with the current state of affairs. Democrats in each birth demographic decreased by at least 10 percentage points, with considerable drops of 21 points for Gen X Democrats and 32 points for millennial Democrats. In the previous poll conducted, 44% of millennial Democrats and 56% of Gen X Democrats were “extremely” or “very proud” to be American as opposed to 24% of Gen Z Democrats. Republicans, by contrast, tended to be highly satisfied with the state of the nation. In the poll, 92% said they were either “extremely” or “very proud” to be American, a 7% increase from 85% last year.

Republican pride has remained persistently strong at more than 90%, save for 2016 and 2020–2024. During much of this tenure, the nation was under Democratic presidential administrations. Republicans in the older generations harbored the same intense pride they did in the earliest years of the century. Gen Z Republicans were considerably less inclined to express such pride. Nonetheless, they were still much more likely to express appreciation for America than Gen Z Democrats and independents.

In 1984, when the Reagan campaign ran the “Morning again in America” advertisement and country music star Lee Greenwood sang “I’m Proud to be an American,” there was no doubt that patriotism had permeated large segments of the American public. Indeed, patriotic fervor was so rabid and intense that Time magazine ran a cover story detailing it. It was a form of patriotism that was deeply suffused with jingoism and nationalism as well as tinged with racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and misogyny.

Not surprisingly, many Republicans have lauded the current landscape. However, the GOP is not securing the majority of voters. Admittedly, the GOP’s reductive immigration policies were one factor, among others, in Donald Trump’s victory in 2024. Since then, however, Gestapo-like ICE raids and the eager embracing of unabashed and overtly racist eugenicists and hardline Christian nationalists who advocate for White supremacy have repulsed a considerable segment of the voting electorate - in particular, Democrats and independents.

Over the past decade, there have been considerable apprehension and ambiguity about young people’s future prospects, widespread discontent with America’s current condition, alarm over the increasing levels of friction between both political parties and dissatisfaction and an unprecedentedly negative perception of both parties. Intense partisan divides have been observed during both the Trump and Biden administrations. There is agreement - in fact, a bi-partisan consensus - that much of the national discord has occurred during the Trump presidencies. This is largely the correct view.