{"id":287817,"date":"2026-02-17T10:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=287817"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:38:16","slug":"6-facts-about-national-pride-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2026\/02\/17\/6-facts-about-national-pride-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"6 facts about national pride in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
People wave U.S. flags from a bridge in in Forest Glen, Maryland, on March 7, 2022, and demonstrators protest the Trump administration in Montpelier, Vermont, on March 8, 2025. (Bill O’Leary\/The Washington Post, John Lazenby\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a 2025 survey, we asked people in 25 nations to say \u2013 in their own words \u2013 what makes them proud of their country. In several ways, Americans\u2019 answers stand out from those of people in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans are among the most likely to emphasize freedom as a source of pride. They are also more likely than people in many other surveyed nations to offer a negative <\/em>sentiment when asked what makes them proud<\/a>. And Republicans and Democrats tend to highlight different sources of pride \u2013 a partisan divide that is not as pronounced in most other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a closer look at national pride in the United States, including how it\u2019s similar to or different from national pride in other countries. The analysis includes direct quotes from some Americans to highlight key themes that were mentioned by multiple respondents. To learn more about sources of pride in the other 24 countries surveyed, read \u201cWhat Makes People Proud of Their Country?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About this research<\/summary>\n

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at what makes Americans proud of the United States, investigating similarities and differences to other countries and across parties. We asked an open-ended question allowing people to share, in their own words, what makes them proud.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. This project adds context to the Center\u2019s long-standing work on national identity and national pride, in the U.S.<\/a> and around the world<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Pew Research Center<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We surveyed 5,153 U.S. adults from Aug. 18 to 24, 2025, online and by phone. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP). This is a survey panel that represents the views of the entire U.S. adult population. Read more about the ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our open-ended question, researchers developed a codebook and coded each response. Spanish responses were professionally translated. We are reporting the percentage of respondents who mentioned each topic. Because people are often less likely to answer open-ended questions and because we coded 28 different topics, the percentages are sometimes fairly low. For more on the coding process or the codebook itself, read the main report\u2019s Appendix B<\/a> or Appendix C<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this U.S.-focused analysis, researchers also coded American \u201chistory\u201d responses for mentions of the nation\u2019s founding. For answers coded as \u201ccurrent leadership,\u201d we checked to see whether they mentioned the sitting national leader in the U.S. and 24 other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see which words were most distinctive by party, we reduced words to their root form (e.g., \u201cpresident\u201d and \u201cpresidency\u201d and \u201cpresidents\u201d are analyzed together). We then selected the 100 most commonly used words by party, excluding 175 of the most common \u201cstop words\u201d (like \u201ca,\u201d \u201cthe,\u201d etc.). From there, we calculated a pointwise mutual information (PMI) score for each word. These scores allow us to identify which words appear in open-ended responses from each political party at a higher rate than we\u2019d expect if the words had no relationship with the groups of people who used them. For more on PMI and how it\u2019s used in our research, read \u201cAnalyzing text for distinctive terms using pointwise mutual information<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the survey question<\/a> used for this analysis, with findings by topic. For a full, ordered list of responses by country, refer to the detailed tables in Appendix E<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We highlighted some open-ended responses in the text of this analysis to represent the key themes we identified. They have been edited for clarity and style and, in some cases, shortened for brevity.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Why are the percentages so low?<\/strong><\/summary>\n

When asked what makes them proud of the U.S., relatively few Americans mentioned any particular topic. This is partly because Americans could say anything<\/em> that came to their minds, and we would code it as one of 27 substantive topics, plus a catch-all \u201cother\u201d category. It is also partly because response rates to open-ended questions tend to be lower than for closed-ended questions<\/a>. Only in Sweden did any single topic rank as a top source of pride for around half of the population. In most countries, the top sources of pride were only named by around a third or fewer. Read the coding methodology<\/a> for more.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Freedom is the top source of pride in the U.S.<\/strong> Americans are most proud of their freedom: 22% name this as a reason they are proud of their country. Many people say this in other countries, too, particularly in the Netherlands, Sweden and France. But the U.S. is the only surveyed country where freedom is the single most frequently mentioned source of pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One 52-year-old American man said he is proud of \u201cstrong free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, [and] general civil liberties,\u201d highlighting the range of freedoms that many Americans take pride in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong> asked what makes them proud of their country, one-in-five Americans offer something negative or critical instead. <\/strong>Some Americans say they don\u2019t feel proud of the U.S., including many who say they were previously proud of it but no longer are. In only a handful of other surveyed nations \u2013 including the United Kingdom, Spain and Nigeria \u2013 do people express as much or more negativity as Americans do on this question. (For more, read \u201cWhere, and why, people aren\u2019t proud of their country<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One 44-year-old American man said there is \u201cnothing to be proud of currently.\u201d Another man said, \u201cI used to be very proud of the United States, but since the reelection of Donald Trump I\u2019m not proud of the United States at all.\u201d Many Democrats explicitly tie their lack of pride in the U.S. to the current administration and its policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are four times as likely as Republicans and those who lean Republican to say something negative (32% vs. 8%). But this pattern is not unique to the U.S. In many countries, people who do not support the governing party or parties are more likely than party supporters to say they are not proud of their country. Attitudes about pride in one\u2019s country often may shift as different parties come into office. This pattern appears in other areas, too, such as views of the economy<\/a> or satisfaction with democracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans and Democrats emphasize different things when it comes to their pride in the U.S.<\/strong> Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say they are proud of freedom (32% vs. 15%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still, freedom is a source of pride for Democrats, even if they mention it less often than Republicans do. As one Democratic woman said, \u201cI am proud to be an American because our citizens are free to speak up about the dictator that resides in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Republicans take pride in the nation\u2019s current leadership, its international standing and affairs, and the U.S. military. These all rank among the top sources of pride for Republicans but not for Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Democrats, diversity and multiculturalism rank among the top sources of pride, but the same is not true for Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Republicans and Democrats differ in the specific words they use when sharing what they are proud of. <\/strong>Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to mention President Donald Trump and God, as well as to use the words \u201cbest\u201d and \u201cgreatest.\u201d They are also more likely to use the term \u201cillegal\u201d and mention the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One 64-year-old Republican woman used some of these words in her answer: \u201cDonald Trump and his Cabinet \u2026. Our country is no longer a laughing stock worldwide and is now a military and economic superpower. We are respected by the entire world and our economy is booming once again. We\u2019re cracking down on crime and dealing with gangs and thugs and illegal aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats, in turn, frequently contrast the past and present when talking about what makes them proud of the U.S. Some of the distinctive words Democrats use include \u201cmoment\u201d and \u201cpast.\u201d For example, a 38-year-old Democrat said, \u201cAt the moment? Not much. In the past, our sense of freedom, liberty and equality.\u201d (For more on how we ranked the distinctiveness of the words used, read About this research<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked what makes them proud, Americans are more likely than people in many other nations to mention their country\u2019s current leader by name.<\/strong> In the U.S., 6% of respondents name a political leader or party as a source of pride. The vast majority of these respondents name Trump, though a small share of people mention other leaders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and references to \u201cDemocrats\u201d or the \u201cDemocratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with people in other countries who mention being proud of their national leadership, Americans are among the most likely to use their national leader\u2019s name. About six-in-ten Americans who are proud of their country\u2019s leaders mention Trump specifically, rather than just referring to the office of the president. Across all the surveyed countries, by comparison, a median of 35% of those who are proud of their national leader mention them by name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few Americans (3%) mention<\/strong> U.S. history as something that makes them proud of their country. <\/strong>By comparison, far more people mention this as a source of pride in Greece (37%), France (22%), Hungary (21%) and Poland (20%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the Americans who do<\/em> mention history as a source of pride, more mention the nation\u2019s founding \u2013 including the Founding Fathers, the writing of the country\u2019s founding documents or the U.S. gaining independence \u2013 than any other historical event or period. Fewer mention things like the abolition of slavery, women\u2019s suffrage, World War II or the Marshall Plan. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to mention the nation\u2019s founding as a source of pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one man, the founding of the U.S. inspires pride in \u201cingenuity, the way our Founding Fathers tried to think of future generations.\u201d Another man said he is proud that \u201cour Founding Fathers set [the U.S.] up almost 250 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people also contrast the founding of the U.S. with the country today. One man said, \u201cI am proud of our history and the ideals upon which we are founded \u2026 I am saddened by the ugly turn we have taken of late, and what it has done to innocents around the world, those most vulnerable here, and our reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 41-year-old man declared himself proud of \u201cthe ideals that our country was founded on and has stood for \u2013 equality, liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of the press \u2026 I worry lately that so much of this is being erased, forgotten, and replaced with things that I am not proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Here is the survey question<\/a> used for this analysis, with findings by topic. For a full, ordered list of responses by country, refer to the detailed tables in Appendix E<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans and Democrats tend to highlight different sources of pride \u2013 a partisan divide that is not as pronounced in most other 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