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327

Americans' pride in US history and democracy drops, and fewer are proud to be American, polls find (apnews.com)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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Americans have grown less proud of their country’s history or the way its democracy works over the past decade, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

Americans’ pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017 — including the nation’s military and its political influence around the globe — according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This poll was conducted in April, as the United States and Iran fought over the Strait of Hormuz in a prolonged war that started with the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran.

New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

Give me something to be proud of, and I'll be fucking proud.

But currently...

We have hands down, the most corrupt federal government in our history.

We're blowing up non-military boats without any due process.

We're shooting missiles in elementary schools and threatening the death of an entire country.

We're financially and materially supporting/encouraging a genocide.

We've hung Ukraine out to dry.

We've absolutely skull fucked the global economy.

We're being lead by (probably) a core member of the largest child trafficking operation in the last century.

Our people can't afford healthcare, childcare, housing and food.

The right to vote is actively being undermined.

You know what would make me fucking proud?

Fining (or better yet liquidating) the corrupt companies, individuals and organizations that are party to trumps grifts, using that money to establish UBI, pay reparations to Iran (of all fucking things), establish fair and sensible taxation policies, reset the supreme court, and put every fucking member of the Trump admin through an actual justice system that is accountable to the people.

Franky, anyone who is proud of the US right now needs to be fucking locked up.

Oh, I forgot, we have literal concentration camps in the US right now... For the second time in 10 years!

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 28 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Being proud of something you had no part in creating always seemed weird to me.

Write a novel. Perform a song. Win a race. Makes sense to be proud.

Happen to be born someplace? Big fucking deal. Most of the people who go on about being proud of the US are going out of their way to make it worse

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Sports team fans have always been a weird thing to me. Love the sport? Sure, but caring how a team does that you have no influence over is weird.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

The emotional buy-in makes it more exhilarating. And it's really easy to do, the human mind loves to give things an identity and a story. And it satisfies the primal urge to belong to a community. Team sports basically hack your brain in some very satisfying ways.

It gets messy when people with poor emotional regulation rely on the sports feelings.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

"WE WON!!"

You didn't win anything. You watched highly-trained and compensated professionals win. You got literally nothing out of it.

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[–] almost_genocide@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I think the idea is if we had a functional democracy we would have a part in creating it.

The lack of patriotism is just more people waking up to the fact that neither Republican nor Democratic politicians give two shits about the American people.

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[–] tigermountain@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Let's be clear. The primary reason people have lost pride in America and democracy is Donald Trump and his administration. You can say other administrations have had their faults, certainly, but what's happening now is far, far worse. And let's not forget the constant drumbeat of propaganda from Fox News and other right wing outlets telling us our country is a shit hole. And again, we have our problems, but this is how propaganda works. You mix in some truth about something while wildly exaggerating or making up other things about it.

[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Idk Trump is without a doubt the worst (so far) and doesn't bother to even dress it up as anything else but when I read this:

New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.

My first thought was "Ruh Roh..."

Every authoritarian overreach, breach of civil rights and liberties in the name of safety, invasion of privacy, and abuse of executive power, was made possible by the Patriot Act and the Bush administration's response to 9/11.

The creation of ICE and homeland security (once again for our own safety).

Information control and the idea of a post truth society vs a reality based community that seems to be getting smaller and smaller by the year.

Propaganda and fear meant to box people into black and white thinking is an echo of McCarthyism but was most famously stated as "If you're not with us, you're against us."

That frame of mind/tribalistic thinking was normalized in the 50s, signed into law in the early aughts, and the same day Charlie Kirk was assassinated and Trump signed NSPM-7, allowed the already overly vague and easily abused definition of terrorist/terrorism to be expanded to include political opposition and basically anybody for anything, because the king says so.

Not long after NSPM-7, the king and his administration began targeting fishing boats in Venezuela with drone strikes and breaking into homes in the United States without search warrants due to similar vague claims about threats of terrorism and safety. And even though they've mainly focused on immigrants so far, they've quietly continued to test the waters and see how far they can expand that definition by tying possession and distribution of drugs to foreign drug cartels (while also literally making closed door deals with wealthy drug cartels and their families, bc they do whatever TF they want. Organized crime is still organized crime, but it's being legalized for certain people).

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/trumps-orders-targeting-antifascism-aim-criminalize-opposition

https://www.newsweek.com/what-is-nspm-7-over-3000-nonprofits-sound-alarm-on-new-trump-directive-10807321

https://www.commondreams.org/news/minnesota-indictments

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/06/donald-trump-gao-report-shell-companies-money-laundering-drug-cartels/

They really ramped things up with Renee Good and seemed to back down a bit after Alex Pretti, but they're definitely not done. People should not be letting their guard down, because without a doubt they're going to get more brazen just before and especially after the midterms, and as the king keeps reminding us, he wants to normalize the idea that there are no limits to his executive power. (And SCOTUS has continued to quietly ensure that's true).

Tldr: I question if it's really a coincidence Trump makes W.'s legacy look so much better by comparison, because W. and his administration enabled all of this. (And tbf to "both sides," I do honestly feel that the Dems that came after W. in Congress and the White House deserve a middle finger for not making any real effort to undo any of it when they had the chance.)

Edit: Also, if you're interested in understanding the legal path of exactly where we're headed and why you should be very angry every time Trump or JD Vance slips in some bullshit normalizing the idea of unchecked executive authority (aside from the obvious), I recommend more people familiarize themselves with the legal theory of Common Good Constitutionalism.

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/25141335

the constitution is not meant to uphold liberty, but to be interpreted by a modern authority in order to promote the greater good.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/4/common-good-constitutionalism/

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah. Know what? I think that's the narrative they're trying to bully us into. The "proud patriots" being their right-wing gooshtepperz and everyone else just whining and hating the country and saying it sucks all the time.

Nonsense! We should take pride in our country, because that spurs us to fight for it and make it better. You're much less inclined to kick miscreants and ruffians out of a space you don't consider yours.

They practically already hijacked the flag, the flag that's supposed to represent all of us. They've hijacked the narrative of the Christian faith as well, which actually used to be a HUGE leftist thorn in the side of capitalists, when it was actually centered about loving thy neighbor.

We've seen in our lifetimes how easy it is for symbols to change. We need to take back our country and its heritage. The "red state" faction is even trying to claim the narrative over the revolution, instead of the more accurate history their ideology represents: The Shameful South of the Civil War. (They'll hatefully decry all the "blue states" that actually won this land from the grip of the crown, of course.)

Like we should just let them have all of that, while they give us a little corner to complain in? While they march a private army through our cities and abduct and murder our neighbors?!

Hell no! This country can be a great country, when it's a country for everyone. We just need to take it back from those who think they can make it "great again."

Have a safe July 4th, take pride in being an American by pissing off fascists and enjoying what's good about your country and fighting loudly for what can be BETTER. They HATE that.

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Nationalism generally should be shunned.

I've never been "proud" of the country I happened to have been born in and have lived in because I've never had the means to move anywhere else.

I'm much less satisfied with how things are going in this country over the past 10 years, but it's never been great. Healthcare is a constant struggle, and terrible, for instance.

I don't take pride in anything billionaires accomplish for themselves, which is 95% of what is usually pushed forward to take pride in. It's all bullshit.

Recently, we've bombed children in other countries, should we be proud of that? I'm ashamed of my country at the moment.

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[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 39 points 3 days ago (6 children)

I still have pride in what The United States aspired to be between the two times the billionaires took over.

Truth, justice, compassionate for most (not Nazis, for example) and a vision for a future that lifts up all cultures and takes responsibility for our mistakes.

I am definitely not proud of who we are right now.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago

America has always been owned by the capitalist class, since Jamestown. White supremacy has always been prevalent, even during the short period of social Democracy under FDR.

The United States has never aspired for any of those things. It was founded on Slavery and Ethnic Cleansing, values still institutionalized today in for form of penal slavery and chauvinism. Even the modern nazi movement of MAGA echos back to the supremacist practices the Nazi's got from the US.

The values you like have never come from The United States, they've come from the history of resistance of American workers, from abolishionists to suffragettes to sewer socialists

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You mean some of the 12 years when FDR was president? That may be the only time that somewhat matches your description, but still not full 12.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

And there was a literal apartheid in place while he was president.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago

And that took a country in literal starvation.

[–] Tarambor@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Wow....never seen such an ignorance of modern American history. Are you forgetting all the "interventions" the US did since the end of WW2, especially in South America where despite the supposed "war on drugs" the CIA teamed up with drug cartels, arming them, funding them, even allowing them to smuggle drugs into the USA to fund rebel fighters to overthrow governments? How it massively increased it's prison population and then allowed them to be used as slave labour by corporations, actively got minorities hooked on drugs, used it's own National Guard to kill protesting university students at Kent State?

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[–] QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago

America is not my country. It is my prison.

[–] Steve@startrek.website 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I am very much ashamed to be american right now.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"...but at least I know I'm not free"

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[–] joeljoelle@piefed.blahaj.zone 25 points 3 days ago (2 children)

we're a bunch of obnoxious assholes what's to be proud of

[–] IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

People are realizing they are free-range slaves and the institutions of both government and religion are false paths built from ideas that were once authentic. Both being used as conquering techniques to own control of humanity, not necessarily protect, serve, or secure an honest future for it.

Humanity isn't a godly experience anymore, it's a business, and the people got so manipulated they are proud enough to kill to be a form of owned cattle.

If there is an awakening socially maybe we will end up seeing the issue stems not from America alone, but western culture as a whole. America is just ...like the selfish arrogant rich kid that made it blatantly obvious.

In palantir and marketed psychological media that leads the path of our future we trust. Amen.

The first step in true change is understanding that we ourselve still hold blame daily. Once we can reconcile the understanding and work within ourselves become genuinely better humans, that honest truthful change can grow outward. Change isn't coming from anyone but ourselves. Stop waiting for a saviour, otherwise things will continue to become worse.

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[–] TheLastOfHisName@piefed.social 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917)
The Anarchist Emma Goldman was tried for conspiring to violate the Selective Service Act. The following is an excerpt from her speech to the court, in which she explains her views on patriotism.

"Who is the real patriot, or rather what is the kind of patriotism that we represent? The kind of patriotism we represent is the kind of patriotism which loves America with open eyes. Our relation towards America is the same as the relation of a man who loves a woman, who is enchanted by her beauty and yet who cannot be blind to her defects. And so I wish to state here, in my own behalf and in behalf of hundreds of thousands whom you decry and state to be antipatriotic, that we love America, we love her beauty, we love her riches, we love her mountains and her forests, and above all we love the people who have produced her wealth and riches, who have created all her beauty, we love the dreamers and the philosophers and the thinkers who are giving America liberty. But that must not make us blind to the social faults of America. That cannot make us deaf to the discords of America. That cannot compel us to be inarticulate to the terrible wrongs committed in the name of patriotism and in the name of the country. We simply insist, regardless of all protests to the contrary, that this war is not a war for democracy. If it were a war for the purpose of making democracy safe for the world, we would say that democracy must first be safe for America before it can be safe for the world."

[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

What articulate and insightful writing, someone should make a book club studying her work, I'm sure the state wouldn't do anything horrible to them /s (arc)

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[–] cmeu@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Weird!

The rise of the surveillance state that none of us wanted. Roaming death squads putting kids into concentration camps. Threatening to annex Canada, Greenland, Venezuela. A system of checks and balances that turned out to be a complete fiction. We spend billions on bombs and missiles so that we can get involved with Israeli genocide/rape/torture and other war crimes. AN INSANE NARCISSIST FLEECING US ALL AND NOONE SEEMS ABLE TO STOP HIM.

What's not to love?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The fucked up thing is that you could post this comment every day, with the reasons replaced with different (equally fucked up) reasons, and it would take months to run out of examples.

The scale of the rot is truly breathtaking.

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[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I think US history is fucking brutal, sad and shameful. Any white american, especially those who were here from the start, should not be proud of their heritage, I certainly am not. That said, I do embrace my country. It has the potential to not be shitty. We have kind people. We have generous people. We have so much that we could be proud of.

I think we need to reject the make america great again idea and charge it to make america decent for once. It could be great. But it never has been.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 11 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Im not sure if I have ever been proud to be an american. Like brief instances where we did things right but not given our general behavior over all time. Hopefull certainly. Not just in america but in democracy around the world. I can't say I have much hope now. Honestly though civil society is feeling like the environment now. Going to do what I can and fight to the last but I don't expect a turnaround. Just going to do my best to be as little of the problem as much as possible and as much of the solution as I can be.

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[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

nothing to be proud of a neo nazi state

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

At the same time, most U.S. adults say that being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their identity, highlighting an enduring connection, even as some become increasingly critical of the country’s past or the government’s current actions.

[…]

He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to represent the United States, its freedoms and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for as a country.”

Most USA citizens are unaware of the degree of propaganda we're fed starting during childhood. I remember saying the pledge of allegiance (a very weird thing to teach to children) in school every day. It's like the hitler-youth. And singing the star spangled banner, in first grade, every morning. Very weird thing to make us do.

When I was 18 years old, we rented the animated Transformers movie from the 80s and played it on silent with trippy music while we were on acid. The animation was so cool that we later rewatched it with sound on after we came down and it held up. We thought the GI Joe movie might also remain good and rented that next. It was child-propaganda. My then-gf turned to me and said, "this was Regan's amerika." She was right. It was trash.

We were taught how awesome we were since I was a child while the truth is that we brutalize, overthrow, and extract. I read an 800 page history of WWII and came away with the primary thought that the USSR won that war, not the USA. I can't believe how much we lie to ourselves. But it makes it easier to justify all the horrors. Look at repubs trying to sanitize the teaching of history even further. I wonder why…

Just woke up, not proofing, may have typos, oh well.

[–] NM_Gringo@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Republicans are out of touch on virtually everything. What a surprise.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

I wish I had a way out or a place that would accept me.

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Not lost on me the ONLY time a president has been elected to serve more than twice was the most democratically socialist president the country has ever had. He was so good that Wall Street capitalist swine conspired to stage a coup led by General Butler, who did the right thing and exposed the fuck out of those assholes.

Oh if only principled and brave generals and admirals like Butler still existed today...

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm a trans latina immigrant who fled the US after ~25 years there. I absolutely refuse to be labeled an American, but I proudly call myself a New Yorker.

I spent my entire life in the states fighting against an institution that doesn't want me alive for basic rights that are awarded to other people by default. I still have to pay the US taxes but I'm not allowed to renew my passport because of who I am. Why the fuck would I claim it as my heritage? If anything, I'm grateful I wasn't born there. Fuck the US.

On the other hand, I'm proud of my home city. I'm proud that I got to vote for Zohran, proud of my friends, proud of the artist communities, and overall proud of how NYC is inspiring other places to resist. As much as I love my new home, I also miss my old home. I am glad I can remain proud of my state after the term American has been dragged through algae green mud.

On that note, I've always understood exactly why so much of the world hates the US. Me too buddy, me too. The loudest Americans I encounter nowadays are easily the conservatives who get off to ragebaiting the locals. It's always a couple livestreaming and secretly looking for a third. Why are there so many of them!?

[–] A404@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 days ago

Eh? I never understood patriotism tbh

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Americans have grown less proud of their country’s history or the way its democracy works over the past decade

That's because we've watched the veil of democracy fall and the Epstein class can do as they will with no recourse.

I have no pride in this shit hole country, only shame.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Can't say that I ever felt pride as an American. What IS an American anyway? I don't feel kinship with much of the land and its peoples.

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[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

America: Asians discovered it, Africans built it, White people destroyed it.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Bit embarrassed to live on earth these days let alone the US.

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