By Glynn Wilson –
While Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is having some trouble rolling over Ukraine on the battlefield and is now the most unpopular man in the world, he can at least have a shot of vodka and laugh at the chaos in the United States. American patriotism is taking a major hit on the eve of the Independence Day holiday as people here get ready to take to the roads and airways for the Fourth of July.
According to the latest Gallup poll on the subject of national pride, only 38 percent of Americans say they are “”extremely proud” to be American, the lowest number ever in the history of Gallup.
While Lee Greenwood is still managing to find bookings to perform his hit song “God Bless America,” his act is also taking a bit of a hit. He has been relegated to playing the opening night of Ribest at the Exchange Club of Naperville in Wheaton, Illinois. And the only reason he got the gig is because organizers had been scrambling to book another headlining act after country singer Toby Keith revealed he has been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer.
Women are saying all over social media that they are not feeling very proud to be Americans this Fourth of July, mainly because the Supreme Court just took away their rights of due process and equal protection under the law.
“This record-low level of extreme national pride comes at a challenging time in the U.S. as a pandemic-weary public is struggling with the highest U.S. inflation rate in more than four decades,” Gallup says in it’s analysis of the poll results, coming from a survey conducted after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, claimed 31 lives, including 19 children.
Gallup’s polling continues to show strong public support for stricter gun laws in the U.S. and for not overturning Roe v. Wade, although this survey was conducted before the Supreme Court’s highly anticipated and controversial ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which upended 50 years of established law, and before bipartisan gun control legislation was passed in the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden.
But it’s still a clear indicator of where we are on the patriotism scale, with only 27 percent of adults in the U.S. saying they feel “very proud” to be Americans. Another 22 percent say they are “moderately proud,” while 9 percent say they are “only a little” proud and 4 percent say they are “not at all” proud of their country right now.
Yes, millions of Americans will still travel and celebrate the holiday with fireworks, beer and barbecue, but some may be doing it in lower key fashion closer to home this year due to higher gas prices and a muted feeling of national pride.
And like everything else it seems in the U.S. these days, of course there is a partisan political divide on this question as well.
The pride of Republicans in being Americans has consistently outpaced that of Democrats and independents since Gallup has asked the question, but even those numbers are down as only 58 percent of Republicans now say they are extremely proud to be Americans, the lowest number ever recorded. Likewise only 34 percent of independents say they are extremely proud.
After hitting a 22 percent low point in 2019 during the administration of President Donald Trump, the pride of Democrats rose to 31 percent in 2021 at the start of Joe Biden’s presidency. But it is down this year to 26 percent, barely over one quarter of the population.
All three major party groups show double-digit declines in pride compared with 2013, with Democrats’ 30-point dip the most pronounced.
The only Americans who seem to remain extremely proud tend to be older men with no college degree, Trump’s base.
