Extreme pride in being an American at record low: Gallup

A record low percentage of U.S. adults — 38 percent — say they are “extremely proud” to be an American, according to a new Gallup poll.

The survey giant said the percentage is the lowest since it began recording the trend in 2001, and is 4 percentage points below the previous low of 42 percent. Additionally, 27 percent in the new survey say they are “very proud” to be an American.

At the same time, 22 percent now say they are “moderately proud” to be an American, while 9 percent are “only a little” and 4 percent “not at all” proud.

Prior to 2015, the percentage of U.S. adults saying they were “extremely proud” did not dip below 55 percent, Gallup noted, with the highest reading following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Along party lines, Republicans’ pride in being American has consistently surpassed Democrats’ and independents’ since 2001, and the trend continues today, according to the survey giant. However, Republicans just hit their lowest percentage in the trend, with 58 percent now expressing extreme national pride. Independents’ extreme pride is also at its lowest on record, with only 34 percent expressing extreme pride.

Democrats’ extreme pride in the nation has also trickled down this year, to 26 percent. It rose slightly to 31 percent in 2021 after hitting a 22 percent low point in 2019.

The poll comes amid increasingly challenging times in the U.S., with Gallup noting that the survey was conducted amid high inflation and in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.

Gallup added that the recent passage of the bipartisan gun safety bill and the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade may impact Americans’ pride, pointing to strong support in previous surveys for stricter gun laws in the U.S. and Roe.

The new survey was conducted June 1-20 among a random sample of 1,015 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.