Americans’ slipping – Ahead of the U.S. marking its 250th anniversary, a new AP-NORC poll finds fewer Americans—especially young adults—see the country as exceptional, and fewer still say a democratically elected government is central to U.S. identity. The survey also shows growing
For Derricka Wall, the problem isn’t the idea of democracy. It’s what democracy has produced.
Wall. 24. of Chickasaw. Alabama. said she believes the governing system was built to protect representation and stop any one person or group from gaining too much power. But she argues the guardrails are being ignored—so badly that she struggles to separate today’s politics from the country that came before. “It’s not that the democracy part is not working,” she said. “It’s the people that are actually being put in office that is the problem.”.
Wall’s frustration sits inside a wider unease revealed by a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted as communities across the country prepare to commemorate the U.S. 250th anniversary. The survey finds fewer Americans see the United States as exceptional. and agreement about key elements of national identity appears to be eroding—especially among younger adults.
Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world. while 44% say it is one of the greatest countries in the world. along with some others. About 3 in 10 Americans say there are better countries than the U.S.—a rise from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016.
Those shifts are starkest when the question turns to representative government. Americans are less likely to see a democratically elected government as “extremely” or “very” important to the United States’ identity than they were just a few years ago. About two-thirds of U.S. adults now say a democratically elected government is highly important to the country’s identity, down from 80% in 2021.
Wall said America is “not what it used to be,” and she believes the founding generation would feel betrayed by what she sees today. “America, I feel like, our founding fathers would be kind of disappointed with how it is now,” she said.
The survey’s most striking generational gap comes from the belief that the U.S. is special—and from the idea that democracy is part of what makes the nation itself.
Among U.S. adults under 30, 44% say there are other countries better than the U.S., compared with 22% of Americans ages 60 and older. Only about half of Americans under 30 believe a democratically elected government is highly important to U.S. identity, compared with 81% of those 60 and older.
For Kent Stage. 62. a retired senior enlisted man in the Army and a registered Republican in Indiana. the problem goes beyond age. He says the current political system doesn’t address the country’s problems and that he would like to see term limits on politicians and more working-class people serving.
“I’ll trust the ambulance-chasing lawyer and a shady used car salesman before I trust the politician,” Stage said.
Stage, a former Marine, believes public servants make self-serving choices for their families “while mine and yours still got to hit the old grindstone.”
That skepticism is echoed in how Americans describe their chances to get ahead.
The poll finds widespread cynicism about the American Dream. About half of U.S. adults—51%—say the American Dream once held true but does not anymore. About one-third say it “still holds true,” while 15% say it never held true.
Jack Hermanson, a 27-year-old software developer in Denver, said his belief changed after he watched his engineer husband struggle to find a job. “That really shattered my impression that if you work hard, you get what you deserve,” Hermanson said.
Young Americans report even less confidence. Only 22% of Americans under 30 say the American Dream still holds true, compared with 46% of Americans ages 60 and older.
Angela Toombs. 31. who works at a senior living facility in Atlanta. described how her clients reminisce about buying a house while working their first regular jobs in their 20s—and how incredulous they seem about the obstacles facing her generation. Toombs recently gave up her own apartment to rent a room in order to save money.
The poll also shows that doubt is not evenly distributed by party. Skepticism about the American Dream is more widespread among Democrats and independents than Republicans. Most Republicans, 57%, say the American Dream still holds true, compared with about one-quarter of independents and 17% of Democrats.
When Americans look at the country through a political lens, the divide sharpens further.
Revealed in the numbers and in the way people describe identity, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to see the U.S. as exceptional. About half of Republicans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, compared with only 7% of Democrats.
Quintin Sharpe, 28, who lives in a resort town on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and is a financial planner who is Republican, said he views the American Dream as still accessible. “It’s been a great experiment,” Sharpe said. “The opportunity is there for those who want to work for it.”
Sharpe believes the country is “a meritocracy, and the best ideas, the best work ethic, those with the best succeed regardless of race, skin color, any of those factors.” He and his wife plan to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary by watching the fireworks over the lake.
On diversity, Americans are also split over what should define the nation.
Just over half of U.S. adults—56%—say a shared American culture and set of values are “extremely” or “very” important to the country’s identity, down from 65% in 2017. The poll found younger Americans are less likely than older ones to say a singular set of values is important to U.S. identity.
But even where there is disagreement on culture and values, the sharpest divide comes in how welcoming newcomers is framed. About half of adults. 51%. say the ability of people to come from other places in the world to escape violence or find economic opportunities is “extremely” or “very” important to American identity. while 55% say this about the mixing of cultures and values from around the world.
Only about 4 in 10 Republicans see the mixing of cultures and values from around the world as central to the country’s identity, compared with 76% of Democrats.
For Rose Nunez, 70, of San Antonio, the unease isn’t abstract. She said she was a small business owner before becoming a caregiver for family members. Her voting history tends toward Democrats, and she described a tension “just beneath the surface,” especially toward Hispanics.
Nunez said some people have started carrying papers showing their immigration status in case they are challenged. “It is hard to celebrate when the feelings towards immigrants and communities of color are so strong,” she said of the upcoming America 250 celebrations.
She added that even citizens are questioned now, and her concern reaches into her family. “She said even citizens are questioned now. If it gets to a point where being naturalized is challenged, ‘guess what, my mom would be leaving. She’s been living in this country since she was maybe four years old. She’s 93.’”.
The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
America 250 AP-NORC poll US exceptionalism democracy American Dream diversity young adults political cynicism immigrants U.S. identity