The number of Americans who consider patriotism, religion, and other key “American values” important has fallen since the late 1990s and plummeted in the last four years, if a new Wall Street Journal poll is to be believed.
Published on Monday, the poll found that the percentage of Americans who say that “patriotism” is very important to them has fallen to 38%, down from 61% in 2019 and 70% in 1998. “Religion” has fallen in importance, with 39% listing it as very important, down from 48% in 2019 and 62% in 1998. Just 30% of Americans now consider “having children” very important, down from 43% in 2019 and 59% in 1998.
Back in 1998, 47% ranked “community involvement” as very important, a figure that rose to 62% in 2019, before falling to 27% in 2023.
Only “money” has consistently increased in importance, with 43% of Americans ranking it as very important, up from 41% in 2019 and 31% in 1998.
That polarization is evident in the survey, with Republicans ranking patriotism, religion, and having children higher than Democrats. Community involvement is slightly more important to Democrats, while both groups consider money equally important.
The divide is widest on the idea of patriotism, with 59% of Republicans considering it very important, compared to just 23% of Democrats.
A Gallup poll last year found that 65% of Americans are “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be American, down from 87% in 2002. The figure of 65% represented a slight increase since 2020’s figure of 63%.
