AP-NORC poll – A new AP-NORC survey finds Americans are split on whether to display the U.S. flag, with age, race and party driving the sharpest differences—especially among younger Democrats and Black adults.
On a Detroit street, Jerry Esters puts the American flag out each day, treating it like a promise that came true for his family. A few miles away, Yvonne Pistochini says there is no scenario under which she would allow “Stars and Stripes” to cast its shadow where she lives.
Both residents are Black. Yet their memories of the country—what it did and what it denied—pull the flag in opposite directions.
Their divide is part of a broader split seen in a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration. The poll shows that views of “Old Glory” track with politics. age and race. and whether Americans see the flag as unifying—or divisive—mirrors how they see the country’s history and accomplishments.
Matthew Delmont, a professor of American history at Dartmouth College, put the contradiction in stark terms. A lot of Black Americans see the flag as “a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion,” he said. He added that Black Americans. more so than white Americans. understand the flag can be used to justify a version of patriotism rooted in exclusion—using the flag to say. “you don’t belong here.”.
The survey, which questioned 2,596 adults from April 16-20, suggests older white adults—especially Republicans—are more likely to say they fly the American flag. Younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don’t.
Roughly half of U.S. adults say they display the flag at home throughout most of the year or during holidays. But the numbers swing hard by party and age: about 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays.
In contrast, about 6 in 10 Democrats and independents say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority—75%—of Democrats under 45.
Esters said the flag on his own home is tied to possibility, the kind that lifted his great-great-grandfather of slaves into a life of success. The 64-year-old retired clay sculptor for a Detroit automaker flies three American flags at his Sherwood Forest home on the city’s west side.
“When these homes were built, Black men like me, my mother and my family … we couldn’t even buy these homes,” he said. “To me, that’s one reason I fly the flag. We went through a lot to be able to own nice homes, and this is what we fought for.”
He traces the second reason to Moriah Martin, his great-great-grandmother, who was born into slavery.
“I’m kind of living out her dreams — what I did for a living, having a business, having a nice home,” he said. “I think that’s the American way, but we got to fight for it and we, as Blacks, fought for it.”
In the survey, Esters is in a minority among Black adults. Only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.
Pistochini, 79, rejects the idea that the flag is a neutral symbol. She said current divisions over political leanings and perspectives. along with inequality of opportunities for the poor and people of color. are not what the flag should stand for—and she believes people confuse flying it with being patriotic.
“Just because you fly a flag doesn’t make you a patriot,” Pistochini said. “If there was patriotism, we would not have all this. We can’t look at (what’s going on) and say this is America.”
For others, the flag remains firmly tied to a simpler promise—country and freedom—something meant to be celebrated without argument.
Ben Gaskins, chair of political science at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, said the flag is an important symbol of patriotism for many Americans. He described it as a central identity marker for people who are older, white, and more conservative.
“Therefore it is those who are older people, who are white and people who are more conservative,” Gaskins said. “They take it as more central to their identity.”
Nancy Hansen. a 73-year-old retired Customs and Border Protection clerk in Culvertson. Montana. said she believes “you have to be for the country. no matter what. ” and that the flag means “freedom.” Hansen. who is white and identifies as Republican. linked that freedom to everyday life: “Freedom to live where we want to live. travel where we want to travel. raise our kids where we want to raise our kids.”.
Each year around July 4, American Legion posts flags outside businesses and homes in Culvertson, including Hansen’s home.
Linda and Greg Cunningham, a white, conservative Pontiac, Michigan couple, say they also connect the flag with freedom. In their neighborhood northwest of Detroit, their home is awash in red, white and blue this summer, with a flagpole just feet from their door.
“It’s no political thing, at all,” said Linda Cunningham, 63. “It’s our freedom. I love the American flag. I love the whole concept of it. I love America. I know there’s so much going on in the world. right now. and I know everyone has their own views. and I’m just sad that politics have to be brought into the flag.”.
Even among those who see the flag positively, the survey shows it is not landing the same way for everyone. Of those polled, 47% see the flag as a “more unifying” symbol. About 16% call it a “more divisive” icon, while 36% say it is neither divisive nor unifying.
Race is where the numbers widen the most. Only 22% of Black adults see the flag as unifying, compared with 55% of white adults and 42% of Hispanic adults.
Allison Wiltz, a Black author and founder of Writers and Editors of Color, described the flag differently: “It’s a painful symbol. It’s a reminder of what we could be and how it’s failed to live up to that for Black people, for Indigenous people and people of color.”
Paul Walthour, 71, occasionally flies the flag outside his Minneapolis-area home on special occasions and some holidays. He said that when he’s away from home and at his cabin, the flag goes up each morning and is taken down at the end of the day.
“This is antiquated, perhaps,” said Walthour, who is white and a retired advertising agency creative director. “I feel it’s a symbol that you’re proud to be an American.”
But he also sees how the meaning shifts with politics and who is flying it.
“Unfortunately, I kind of think it’s kind of a symbol of dividing more than uniting,” Walthour added. “The people who fly it on the far right have one kind of feeling about it, and the people who fly it on the left have a different kind of feeling about it.”
The survey’s methodology underscores how widely these views are distributed. The AP-NORC poll of 2. 596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. 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.
In the end, the flag looks the same in the air—whether in Detroit or Montana, in a cabin or on a neighborhood flagpole. The difference is what it is seen to promise, and what people believe it has already delivered.
AP-NORC poll American flag Old Glory race politics Democrats Republicans patriotism symbolism Detroit Black Americans July 4