With the exception of increasingly dour Democrats, adult Americans’ pride in their country is holding steady as the nation nears the 250th anniversary of its founding, results of a new Gallup poll reveal.
In a national survey of U.S. adults (18+), conducted June 1-15, 93% of Republicans and 51% of Independents said they were either “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, on par with the 92% of Republicans and 53% of Independents who voiced such pride in June of last year.
Among Democrats, however, those expressing similar pride in being American fell to 27%, down from 36% last year – when it plummeted 26 percentage points from 2024, as Gallup noted in its 2025 report:
“Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop in U.S. pride this year (2025), with 36% saying they are extremely or very proud, down from 62% a year ago. This is only the second time Democrats’ pride has fallen below the majority level, along with a 42% reading in 2020, the last year of the first Trump administration. That poll was conducted during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.”
Overall in 2026, 58% of U.S. adults reported they were either extremely or very proud to be an America, down from 53% in 2025, as the decline in those with “extreme” pride (from 41% to 33%) was partially offset by an increase in adults who said they were “very” proud (from 17% to 20%).
Among Independents, those who said they were very proud inched up from 21% to 23%, but those who said they were extremely proud Americans fell more, from 32% to 28%.
This year’s 56-point gap between the 70% of Republicans who said they were “extremely” proud to be American and the 14% of Democrats who felt the same rivals the record 57-point difference in 2025.
Republicans (69%) are also far more likely than Democrats (26%) to express national pride by displaying the American flag outside their homes on national holidays or other days during the year, Gallup found. Among Independents, 42% reported that they fly the American flag.
Both Republicans and Independents are more likely to fly the flag today than they were 40 years ago, while Democrats are less inclined to do so, Gallup notes. In 1986, 50% of Republicans, 42% of Democrats and 36% of Independents said they flew the flag outside their homes.
