According to NBC data reporter Steve Kornacki, fewer Americans are saying they feel “extremely proud” of their country in 2026 than in previous years, which is the continuation of a downward trend that has been happening for some time now. Only a third of those who participated in a recent poll for NBC News by Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates and GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, said they are “extremely proud” to be Americans.
The response is less than half of what was recorded in a similar poll from 2003, in which 70% of participants described themselves as being proud of their country. Kornacki then pointed out that a lot of the decline was happening among political “fault lines.” Kornacki told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, “Look: ‘extremely proud,’ ‘very proud.’ Those numbers together get you 56%. At the other end of it: ‘only a little’ or ‘not proud at all,’ 21%.”
“The significance of this, this number is in decline. A steady 21st century decline. At the turn of the century, three quarters of Americans were ‘extremely’ or ‘very proud.’ That number’s fallen to 56%,” he explained. “What’s behind this? It’s familiar fault lines, Kristen, political demographic. First, it’s partisan. Look at this: Republicans are almost universally going to tell you, ‘extremely or very proud.'”
“Look at that number for Democrats. And meanwhile, ‘only a little or not at all,’ 12 times as many Democrats say that compared to Republicans,” he said, according to The Daily Caller via AOL. Kornacki then discussed how multiple institutions have experienced a loss of trust, which might be what is causing the current lack of American pride. The analyst then talked about the Supreme Court.
“Look at this. ‘Very little’ or ‘no confidence’ at all, long list here of these institutions: the news media, Congress, federal government, religious organizations, Supreme Court,” Kornacki told the program’s host. “Over the last 20 years these numbers are 20 or 30 points higher than they’ve been. Just deteriorating confidence. You could see a partisan divide a little bit on these, too.
“Republicans much more distrustful of the media; Democrats extremely negative on the Supreme Court,” Kornacki said. The Daily Caller then pointed out that Democrats have been upset and highly critical of Supreme Court decisions on some of their pet causes including abortion, nationwide injunctions, gun rights, restrictions placed on child sex changes, and free expression.
During the judicial term that ended July 1, 2024, along with ruling in favor of presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts, SCOTUS also overturned the “Chevron doctrine.” This required courts to defer to interpretations of law by regulatory agencies and decided that fines imposed by administrative law judges were in violation of the Seventh Amendment.
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A commenter on the Daily Caller story wrote, “It’s not America I’m losing pride of, it’s Americans! 50% +/-% are f***ed up and hate America! Thank a teacher!” Another individual wrote, “The poll proves that our schools have been a key player in turning this country to socialism or communism, especially universities. The data clearly shows that those in our population that have never achieved anything in life except participation trophies are the ones that hate America. Maybe if they worked and achieved, they would understand what an honor it is to be from this country.”