This article was co-written by Xavier Morales and Katie Heintz.
In 2002, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Americans were united by a common tragedy, against a common enemy. As a result, a huge majority of young Americans considered themselves patriotic: a youth survey by the Harvard Public Opinion Project at the time found that 89% of 18- to 29-year-old Americans self-identified as patriotic. Since then, the nation has changed dramatically, and levels of patriotism have dropped significantly. The most recent poll conducted by HPOP, asking whether young Americans saw themselves as “patriots,” found that only 33% answered in the positive, while 63% answered negatively. While this suggests a dramatic decline in patriotism among the youth, the same survey found that 62% of young Americans still considered themselves to be “patriotic.” In 20 years, then, this nation has seen a divergence of the meanings of “patriot” and “patriotic” — a divergence informed by both political and cultural changes over the past two decades.
While an initial glance suggests consensus, a further look into the data reveals a very clear partisan divide in support for patriotism. Among those polled, only 38% of Republicans and 35% of Democrats identified as patriots. Yet, while a majority of young Americans on both sides of the aisle reject identifying as patriots, Republicans and Democrats disagree about the merits of what it actually means to be a “patriot.” When asked about what word they associate with “patriot,” Republicans were more likely to use positive terms like loyalty and pride, while Democrats emphasized negative words like racism, xenophobia, nationalism, and ignorance. These differences manifest themselves in varying levels of support for patriotism by party: 86% of Republicans identified as patriotic, compared to 56% of Democrats.
The fact that young Republicans and Democrats hold different conceptions of patriotism suggests that the contrasting numbers might be semantic. The aversion among young people to the term “patriot” could be explained by the cooptation of the word by far-right groups — such as the alt-right — steeped in exclusionary nationalistic values. In 2016, many Donald Trump supporters began adopting the term “patriot” openly. Those supporters were disparaged by Democrats and the media, most famously in a 2016 speech when Hillary Clinton said half of Trump supporters belonged to a “basket of deplorables” including “the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.” Despite this criticism, Trump has dug further into his own stance, openly embracing the term “nationalist,” using the word interchangeably with “patriot.” As a result, over the course of the 21st century, the term “patriot” has come to be associated with negatively-viewed ideas such as racism, xenophobia, or white nationalism.
While most young Americans are reluctant to be associated with racist and nationalist ideas by identifying as patriots, they don’t seem to be equally averse to being labeled patriotic. The term in its adjective form, as opposed to conjuring images of illiberal nationalism, instead may be more closely associated with traditional American values that young people continue to observe. For instance, the youth’s faith in the idea of an American Dream, a meritocratic promise of reward for hard work, still seems to be standing strong. When young Americans were asked whether they believed they could succeed in America by working hard, 82% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats answered yes, suggesting that a belief in the American Dream is still prevalent among young Americans.
Despite the agreement on whether the American Dream holds up for the respondents themselves, the surveyed youth differed on their views for other’s chances of success. Among the same group of young Americans polled, 79% of Republicans believe anyone can succeed in America by working hard, but only 39% of Democrats feel the same way. Young Republicans are optimistic across the board, while young Democrats are optimistic about their own chances but show concern for the chances of others. This discrepancy is influenced by the knowledge that certain minority groups face significant disadvantages caused by structural inequality.
This negativity regarding the opportunities that members of disadvantaged groups have in society contrasts with views at the beginning of the century. Eighteen years ago, a Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll showed that around 50% of Americans felt race relations were very or fairly good, with the numbers continuing to climb. Now the situation appears to have worsened, with a 2019 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center showing that 58% of all adults have negative views of race relations. This pessimism about the treatment of race in the US that has grown in the past 20 years may be one of the driving forces behind the decline in a societal belief of the American Dream among young Democrats.
For ages, the American Dream has been a source of pride for American citizens. Many see it as a distinguishing characteristic of the US, and even as a part of the nation’s foundational principles. This continued belief in the American Dream might explain why people are still quite likely to identify as patriotic, even as they refuse to call themselves patriots. This allows young Americans to avoid the negative connotations of the label “patriot,” while still embracing the cultural values of their nation.
Regardless of why people have stopped calling themselves patriots, patriotism has undeniably experienced a sharp decline in the past two decades. This decline is driven in part by political polarization and in part by the realization that American values are often not applied equally to all. However, while patriotism appears to have taken a hit since the beginning of the century, the American youth still embody a patriotic spirit.
Image source: Flickr/Christopher Barnette