52% of Americans “extremely proud”

| July 4, 2016

american-flag

According to Gallup in their latest round of polling only 52% of Americans are “extremely proud” to be Americans and it represents a new low in the responses sine 2003.

Americans’ patriotism spiked after 9/11, peaking at 70% in 2003, but has declined since, including an eight-percentage-point drop in early 2005 and a five-point drop since 2013.

Americans’ declining patriotism is likely related to broader dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. In January 2004, when 69% were extremely proud to be an American, 55% of Americans were satisfied with the way things were going in the U.S. That was the last time satisfaction has been at the majority level, and the percentage satisfied has mostly held below 30% since 2007, including the 29% in Gallup’s most recent update.

Well, while I’m disappointed in the direction that things are going in this country, there’s no place I’d rather live.I’m proud that I was born here, I’m proud of my 35 years of service to the American people. As far as the direction the country is headed, it’s not like I didn’t predict that eight years ago, so I expected it. I’m not particularly proud of some my fellow citizens and they should probably leave the country before they goof it up even more. They can go to some place more to their liking like North Korea or Cuba, or Venezuela.

Having lived in some of the shitholes of the world, I know what true poverty is, I know what the true lack of freedom is like, and I know the cause of those problems.

Gallup says that the dissatisfaction with the United States is mostly among the young folks, the ones who won’t stay off my lawn;

The largest decline has come among young adults, from 60% to 34%. In 2003 as well as today, young adults rank among the subgroups least willing to say they are extremely proud to be Americans.

I’m not surprised – they live in their pretend television and Hollywood world and have no experiences with which to compare reality with fiction. Maybe if they had jobs and paid taxes they’d be more appreciative.

Category: Society

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Silentium Est Aureum

I love how these fart huffing shit don’t stink sparkle pony snowflakes hate this country so much, and how they’d so love to live in a “democratic socialist” society like Denmark or Sweden.

I ask them if they’ve ever been to Europe, let alone Asia, South America, or Africa. Virtually none have left the confines of the US, aside from a possible drunken Spring Break weekend in Cancun, where they never left the tourist area.

Spend a few weeks in REAL poverty, in REAL shitholes, or even in Europe, where the standard of living is a fraction of what it is here, with little hope of upward mobility, and they’d change their minds.

Like the old saw goes, “Move out into the world and change it, while you still know everything!”

Finally, yeah–I’m proud to be an American, although I’m not very proud of my government for the fucking soup sandwich it has created for the next generation to try and fix.

Richard

SEA: I am very proud of my country. Many people here have made great contributions and sacrifices to our country and to humanity in general.

I am not proud of my government – we have a good system that a majority of of population has messed up because they don’t know what government is supposed to do or how it is supposed to work and they do not understand their role and responsibilities.

“Having lived in some of the shitholes of the world, I know what true poverty is, I know what the true lack of freedom is like, and I know the cause of those problems.” yeah, that. Like CC Senor says, public education is a major part of the issue – if kids learn about poor places, they usually learn that it is our fault.

lily

After my deployment in Kosovo I would kiss the ground in socialist California before going back that shit hole.

A Proud Infidel®™

“Virtually none have left the confines of the US, aside from a possible drunken Spring Break weekend in Cancun, where they never left the tourist area.”
You hit the nail on the head, SEA. I see most of them as clueless little shits that have never really gone anywhere or accomplished anything on their own so they make shit up and talk about it like they’re someone.

CC Senor

“Having lived in some of the shitholes of the world, I know what true poverty is, I know what the true lack of freedom is like, and I know the cause of those problems.”

Pretty much sums up my feelings. Public education also shares a large part of the blame for for the lack of appreciation among the younger set. At least the nuns taught us love for God AND country when I was a kid.

And this is just because I love this song. Better than Viagra.

Ex-PH2

It’s not perfect. It never was. But if it’s so awful a place that these wet-behind-the-ears know-it-alls detest it when they’ve never faced real challenges, they are not required to stay here.

It’s my country. Love it or leave.

HMCS(FMF) ret.

AMEN!

OWB

It’s not as if anyone is forcing them to remain US citizens. So why haven’t they changed their citizenship to somewhere that they could be proud of?

Meanwhile, not only am I proud of this country, I am extremely grateful for the accident of birth which made me a US citizen.

Happy Birthday, America!

NR Pax

So why haven’t they changed their citizenship to somewhere that they could be proud of?

Because the countries they love enforce immigration quotas and being a professional protester or community organizer aren’t skills that they need there.

AW1Ed

“Maybe if they had jobs and paid taxes they’d be more appreciative.”

Especially if there were more decent jobs to be had. The number of people out of work is a national disgrace, Barry.
JMHO, YMMV.

MCPO NYC USN Ret.

In a related story, 48 % of Americans are celebrating Independence Day today … when in 1876 the US won their independence from Canada!

26Limabeans

“Maybe if they had jobs and paid taxes they’d be more appreciative.”

Maybe if they had to dodge rockets and mortars while watching where they step they would change their tune.

Bill

Sons-(& daughters) a-bitches (& bastards) will stay as long as you and I support them with all their alleged “basic needs” (and more). They’ll continue to suckle the public teat as long as we tolerate it. Let’s stop tolerating it, folks. It’s all alisnky shit- put pabulum in their little minds and keep it up throughout their “public education” time. Fight it- Semper Fi!

2/17 Air Cav

The drop in American pride is in keeping with the Left’s notion of world citizenship and the notion that Americans are merely lucky. We are to cast aside any semblance of American exceptionalism and dwell on how those who founded our nation were monied, slave owning, propertied white men and those who built the nation did so at the expense of the environment and the salary-dependent workers. This is what the young are now taught. It explains Bernie and oBaMa and it explains the low regard too many people have for this great nation.

Blaster

I see the same thing. They (the left) focus on the bad, or what they think is/was bad and forget all of the good. Just think of where the world would be if not for the USA. I keep hearing about the white founding fathers who were slave owners, but it seems that a lot of people forget that it was also white men who freed those saves, or at least died trying.

They may be extremely proud if they would see the good, and not look for the bad- ALWAYS

Casey

Before anyone gets off on a rampage -I’m not sure how not being “extremely proud” of this country equates to “hate” this country- let me take a moment to point out the survey gave people five options: extremely, very, moderately, only a little, and not at all proud.

As reported “only” 52% selected extremely proud. What wasn’t emphasized in the original (linked) article was that 29% said they were very proud. Add those together and you get 81%. Not too shabby.

For the rest we have 13% moderately proud (IOW 94% expressed at least some pride in our country), 5% only a little, and 1% not at all. Even if you throw out the moderately votes you’re looking at 81% extremely & very proud vs. 5% a little and 1% no pride.

I agree with Jonn that the under 30 group hasn’t had the chance to see real poverty or real oppression.

Something else I noticed was that they only gave breakdowns on the extremely proud group. We didn’t get a chance to see the cross-tabs for the very proud group.

I would suggest basing an evaluation of patriotism on how many people are extremely proud of their country vice very proud is a flawed approach.

MCPO NYC USN Ret.

Thank you Doctor!

(sarc)

Casey

You are very welcome, sir. 🙂

The Other Whitey

Well, I can’t speak for all of the younger generation, but I’m 32 years old, I really don’t like the current administration of the federal or state governments, and nothing will ever prevent me from being proud to be an American. I have a station full of 19-, 20-, and 21-year-old Firefighter-1s who share that feeling. As I type this, they are mounting a flag to the engine* for the local Independence Day parade.

Neither I nor my crew have any use for spoiled America-hating limp-dick kardashian-obsessed Che-shirt-wearing wannabe-French Bernie-voting anti-gun bandwagon-commie neo-socialist liberal idiot fucksticks who don’t appreciate how lucky they are. They are, of course, only too happy to see us when they call 911, though. Funny how that works…

* Though we would love to fly the flag on the engine nonstop, the rigors of a California fire season will shred a flag in a few weeks, so we have to roll with decals. The mounted flag is for special occasions only.

madconductor

Like.

BlueCord Dad

Happy Birthday to us! DTOM

BlueCord Dad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHIj8FT6vmM
Hope this fixed the original post.

OSC(SW) Retired

Well I don’t know if I should be extremely disappointed or just very disappointed in you and Gallup for not mentioning that the alternative to “Extremely Proud” wasn’t “I fucking hate America”.

Clearly not very many people here bothered to look at he poll and the responses, because they would see that the options were Extremely, Very, Moderately, Only a Little, Not at All, and No Opinion. No Opinion actually rated the same 1 to 2 % as Not at all. That leaves the other four responses which ALL indicate some level of pride in America; with extremely and very making up 81%.

Lostcause

I don’t know.

I feel the same pride as a fat C student kid won 4th out of 8 in a school track meet.

Not bad for a fat kid but wish he was less fat and less stupid.

We really are not first in the world at anything worth being first in the world at.

Except military spending. Not sure if that is worth it given the opportunity cost of that spending.

I think if people were more honest about the things we are not doing well we would be a better country.

But pride > self awareness in the US.

IDC SARC

dunno what flavor of stats regarding spending you enjoy but here’s the Congressional budget office.

Not saying this applies to you LC…but I had a PhD and former miltary man that is very bright and I hold a lot of respect for tell me 75% of our budget was military spending…until he actually looked at the CBO breakdown.

https://www.cbo.gov/

lostcause

I am not sure why you responded with that information.

I said we are first in the world in military spending.

I did not say we spend more on our military than anything else.

IDC SARC

because first in the world considering our population and obligations is relatively meaningless.

Lostcause

We are first in the world in military spending both in real numbers and per capita. By a long shot.

IDC SARC

I’m getting the feeling he’s not interested in such knowledge.lol

68W58

“We are first in the world in military spending both in real numbers and per capita. By a long shot.”

Incorrect-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditure_per_capita

IDC SARC

there ya go again…confusing the issue with facts

lostcause

I stand corrected. Apologies.

MCPO NYC USN Ret.

There is a 12 step program somewhere with your name on it!

IDC SARC

I’ll drink to that!

IDC SARC

…and because there’s a lot more info there besides percentages.

IDC SARC

damn…that shot^^^^^ wasn’t even in the black

More whiskey!

68W58

I feel the same pride as a fat C student kid won 4th out of 8 in a school track meet.

Still can’t get over the fact that that fat bastard beat you huh?

Perry Gaskill

Actually, the results of the Gallup poll weren’t that bad if you consider the numbers on the opposite end of the “extremely proud” scale; 1% said they were “not at all proud” and 5% were “only a little proud” as mentioned in a previous comment. Gallup also tied the results into the implication that the drop in patriotic level at the highest end was due to “concern about the economy and lack of faith in public institutions.” Saying something is not perfect is not the same as saying you won’t defend it. It’s also not a surprise, at least it seems to me, that millennials are unhappy. That they are a bunch of special snowflake every-child-gets-a-trophy weaklings could largely be a mainstream media construct. One likely to not reflect millennials themselves, but instead a vocal generational faction of helicopter parents. Pick a typical teen these days and there’s some doubt if he’s going to be more or less goofy than we were at the same age. I’ve got a couple of millennial daughters, and neither they nor their friends fit the limpid profile we’re all supposed to believe. A current goofy theory of my own is that a lot of the millennial angst is driven by the media’s obsession with that demographic because it is also an obsession among advertisers and marketing. Imply to some kid that he’s a pathetic loser unless he’s living a lifestyle of the rich and famous, and it’s bound to have bad results– such as greed and a demand for instant gratification. And marketing does this all the time. Years ago, there was a Pulitzer Prize-winning book published called The Soul of a New Machine. In it, author Tracy Kidder did a remarkable job of documenting the development of a new computer line by a small company in Massachusetts. One of the key takeaways of the book was that such a work environment is a lot like playing a game of pinball; pull off the brilliant feat of getting a machine out the door, and the most you can hope for is a chance to… Read more »

Poetrooper

Here are the actual results buried four paragraphs down in the Gallup report:

In addition to the 52% who say they are extremely proud in the June 14-23 poll, another 29% say they are very proud and 13% moderately proud, meaning the vast majority of U.S. adults express at least a considerable amount of pride in being Americans. Five percent say they are “only a little proud” and 1% “not at all proud.”

That presents a much different picture. Gallup was obviously shooting for sensational headlines by presenting the report in the manner they did.

Assholes…

lily

Send the ones who aren’t proud to be American to their country of choice to live. That will fix our problems. Don’t allow them to immigrate back.

lostcause

Yeah, the country would be better off if people who wanted the country to be better off just left.

That makes sense.

IDC SARC

Depends on what their definition of better off is. I don’t see any methodology in those stats. They might deserve consideration or just a boot to the head for all we can tell.

lostcause

People being proud of their country is good.

But I also think it is healthy for a country to have people that think it could and should be better.

IDC SARC

again….depends what is meant by an ambiguous term such as “better”

IDC SARC

If better means they thing we have too many homos and honkies…then…boot to the head

IDC SARC

thing=think

Blaster

The people that voted for and support the current CiC thought/ think that this country could be/is better through his BS policies.

But it ain’t. I am speaking for Mayans my family. In my 45 years on this earth, I have never had a harder time making ends meet. But I guess that whole wealth redistribution has to start somewhere. The problem is that I wasn’t wealthy when the left decided that some welfare riding, food stamp using, no job having, laying around bitching, Obama phone using, piece of shit needed or deserves part of what I get out of bed at 4:30am to earn.

Like IDC SARC said, doing better is relative. Especially when those ideas are coming from a 24 year old that has been riding mom and dads checkbook and has no idea how things REALLY work.

I’m with lily, get the hel out if you ain’t happy!

Blaster

Not Mayans – damn autocorrect! “Myself and”

LC

I love this country deeply. I’ve lived in a bunch of other countries, and I’ve always proudly flown my American flag wherever I’ve lived, much to the dismay of some locals. I don’t care – the US has some incredible principles and people, and I love her for it.

But I’m not always proud of her. When our two choices for President are a vacuous blowhard and a deceitful ‘legacy’ choice, should I be proud of that? When our media is more interested in what some idiot Kardashian did instead of real world events of major consequence, should I be proud of that? There are plenty of things I am proud of, too many to list here, in fact, so I have a lot of pride in America. But it’s tempered by the fact that we could be so much more.

Put a different way, you can love your kid,.. but still not be too proud of him when he does something stupid. And we’ve done a few really stupid things lately. That love ain’t going away, but the pride.. well, it needs to be earned back.

2/17 Air Cav

Is lostcause Lars by a new name?

IDC SARC

lol…oh yeah, I forgot

Ex-PH2

No. There’s no rant about social this and -ism that, no pseudo-intellectual attempt to deplore the aptitudes of everyone else within spitting distance.

UpNorth

So, you’re saying that Lost Cause could be Lars, when he’s on his meds?

Lostcause

Yeah. Cymbalta. Good stuff. Helps with stability and chronic pain. Wish I took it sooner.

UpNorth

Careful, Larsie, it also contributes to sexual dysfunction. Lord knows you don’t need more of that problem.
However, it seems that you’ve been trying to quit it cold turkey. You show some of the symptoms, things like sudden rage and no patience for others, extreme mood swings.

Ex-PH2

Advil is better. Deals with pain (as does acupuncture) and promotes better sleep. Also, no side effects like tylenol gives you.

Lostcause

It is me.

2/17 Air Cav

I am serious. I am not merely suggesting he sounds like Lars. I am asking whether he actually is Lars.

Claw

Yes, it is him. Back on 23 Jun when he first commented as Lostcause, he was identified by Kilo 3/7 as being Lars by another name and then he acknowledged that it was him.

Lostcause

I was not hiding. That is why I acknowledge it is me. I just figured that people would be more respectful of not using my name in their posts if I was no using my last name in mine.

2/17 Air Cav

Thanks. As you know, I do my best to ignore Lars. I made one exception recently and I don’t want to make another, inadvertently, by responding to lostcause.

Ex-PH2

Stop obsessing about something that is a complete waste of your time. You have better things to do and more important things to think about, don’t you?

2/17 Air Cav

Huh? Not responding to Lars/Lostcause is making better use of my time.

Ex-PH2

Yes, sweetie, but you seem to obsess a bit about him. Think about something else, something pleasant, something like… target shooting! Pattern target shooting. It requires complete focus and concentration and takes your mind off things that annoy you, kind of like meditation without the bendy knees.

2/17 Air Cav

I’ll do what I like, thanks.

STSC(SW/SS)

No other country I would live in. We have choices. If you want to live literally in a nanny state move to the west coast or some state in New England. Like your freedom, then Texas, Montana and Wyoming is the place for you. Of course most states are in between.

America
Learn it
Live it
Love it

If not, fucking leave.

IDC SARC

All this banter is fine…but this is after all the fourth of july sooo can I just say one more time.

America:Fuck Yeah!

IDC SARC
IDC SARC

Yo Kuntzman…..do you hear this, do yo see the crowd, can you hear them singing along?

Go set something on fire and shoot it. Lift something fukking heavy. Man the fukk up!

UpNorth

^^^^Like^^^^

jarhead

What do we care about polls in general? Mostly self-serving for somebody’s own needs. Too easily skewed with misleading questions the average person can’t begin to understand. After barrages of anti-Trump media garbage strong recently, just yesterday from NPR came remarks claiming 47%% of Americans believe Shillery is NOT TRUSTWORTHY. Meanwhile, the same poll showed 39% of voters say she is CORRUPT. This, while we are being fed media pablum claiming Trump is losing. As all others on this or most any web site, how can we NOT be proud to be Americans? If polls were limited to responses from those who had served their country, don’t you imagine the pride would be showing in the 90+% range? On the other hand, had the polls been limited to responses from those who for generations had received and felt entitled to already free medical care, free checks for sitting on their ass each and every day, bigger checks for having more babies, bigger checks for taking the youngsters to a free shrink so they can game the system and get a “crazy” check for their kids, free shit for life…..yep, there’s the “unhappy to be an American” response. Damned right…we owe them even more than free phones and free rent…..as they see it. There are all sorts of “special” groups getting money from big bro., and THEY are the unhappy ones who see those of us who have worked for what we have living fairly well….because we WORKED and contributed. They, on the other hand believe they are entitled to live like us in spite of being non-productive. Who do we have to thank for this? US…nobody else. US because we continue to re-elect the same shit head politicians over and over. Bottom line is this…polls don’t mean shit to me in most cases because they can be so easily skewed by asking the “right” crowd to which the answers will reflect what the pollsters want. I am beyond extremely proud to be an American. Call me with a poll asking how I feel about the direction this country and my… Read more »

Ex-PH2

33 people took the pledge of US citizenship today, per an article in the local newspaper.

They looked VERY happy to be here and get those certificates that say they are AMERICANS.

A Proud Infidel®™

Here’s what I have to say via Johnny Cash:

Devtun
jarhead

Thanks for sharing Devun, in spite of it being the type of news NONE of of ever want to read. To me, it reflects a great deal as to what is destroying this country; that is, in addition to politicians in general. The quote that really pisses off proud thinking Americans……”There’s a possibility it (the act of burning the American flag) could be considered protected speech because of a Supreme Court decision.” Please somebody tell us…what kind of American citizen with pride could ever believe his act to be acceptable, legal, held to accountability, ethical and just plain damned rational behavior?

Add Supreme Court judges to the list of failures of progress in this country. What person of sane mind EVER decided ANYONE could or should be appointed to ANY political position for LIFE? Extremely proud to be an American? ABSOLUTELY!!
Fed up with the antics of those who have weaseled their way into leadership at ANY political level? ABSOLUTELY F______G RIGHT!!!!

My great pride in being EXTREMELY PROUD will continue to grow if we the people send the pant suit anti_Christ packing, just prior to being indicted and imprisoned for life.

Yep, birds of a feather DO flock together. “I never had sexual relations with that woman”. And NONE of us ever crapped our diapers from the day we were born! What is the meaning of the word “crapped”?