As we dive into the 250th anniversary, folks aren’t exactly in a celebratory mood. New polling shows national pride is slipping to historic lows, with only 33% of adults saying they’re “extremely proud” to be American. Some of the sharpest declines were seen among people of color, who often have strong critiques of the government.
The polling from Gallup paints a sobering picture of a nation whose love for its founding principles has cooled considerably. Just 53% of adults in the country now say they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be American– an eight-point drop from last year and tied for the largest year-over-year decline in the survey’s history. Pride in American history, democracy and military has also fallen sharply over the past decade.
We spoke to Rev. William J. Barber II, who shared his perspective on the drastic decline.
“Some have become disillusioned because, especially now with this [President Donald] Trump-led MAGA movement,” he said. “We are seeing a political vision more interested in presenting an American nightmare than in striving for an American Dream.”
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The biggest drop comes from Democrats and younger Americans, many of whom have come of age through stark political tensions, a global pandemic, economic instability and relentless wars over culture and race. For them, patriotism seems to be less like waving a flag and more like asking whether the country is living up to its own promises.
“Instead of promoting ‘Give me your tired, poor huddled masses yearning to be free,’ the president and MAGA want to dehumanize, criminalize and turn immigrants away,” Barber continued. “Instead of trying to establish justice, they are working every day to disestablish justice.”
July 4 marks America’s 250th birthday, and a growing number of people seem to be asking the same question: What exactly are we celebrating?
The numbers tell a story that’s hard to ignore. When Gallup first asked Americans in 2001 whether they were “extremely proud” to be American, 55% said yes. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, patriotism surged, with between 65% and 70% expressing extreme pride from 2002 through 2004.
That post-9/11 wave didn’t last, however. Pride gradually fell over the following years but remained above 50% through 2017. Since 2018, however, fewer than half of Americans have described themselves as extremely proud of their country.
For a nation that often wraps itself in flags and fireworks, the findings suggest symbolic patriotism is losing ground to skepticism. Black Americans, in particular, continue to grapple with their historic pride in a country their ancestors built and the promises that the same government has still fallen short of keeping, namely protecting the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Voting Rights for all is not their goal,” Rev. Barber said of MAGA. “They seem to suggest that America was great prior to the end of slavery, prior to the 14th and 15th Amendments. And their notion of greatness is rooted in going back to the way things were, to some glorified past.”
But the question for Black Americans isn’t whether they still care about the country. It’s whether they believe America is giving them enough reasons to be proud.
Most respondents still said being American remains an important part of who they are. The disconnect is between identity and confidence — a gap that suggests people aren’t necessarily giving up on America so much as questioning the direction it’s headed in.
The timing couldn’t be more awkward. As political leaders prepare star-spangled celebrations for the nation’s semiquincentennial, President Trump’s national approval rating remains lower than hoped, according to polls from Fox Business and The New York Times.
For many Americans, patriotism in 2026 isn’t blind allegiance. It’s demanding accountability, wrestling with history and wondering whether “liberty and justice for all” is still an aspiration instead of a reality.
“This is so distorted,” the reverend added. “But in this moment, we must shake ourselves, rise up, stand up, vote up [and] speak up … We must not only pray for the dream we hold dear. We must nonviolently and in every way morally push for, believe [and] vote for that.”
