PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

Most Americans Proud of U.S. History, Say Other Nations Should Follow America's Lead

 

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

 

 

Three out of four Americans are proud of their country's history, and nearly as many feel the world would be a better place if more nations were like ours.

As the country approaches its 232nd birthday this July 4 (Friday), the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 75% of U.S. voters declare themselves proud of America's history. Only 13% say they are ashamed of that history, with the rest undecided.

Similarly, 72% say that students should be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, although 19% disagree. Efforts to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge continue in the courts.

Sixty-four percent (64%) view the United States as a positive role model for human rights. The same percentage of voters say the world would be a better place if other nations followed our example. Earlier surveys have found that roughly six-out-of-ten voters believe that American society is generally fair and decent. Only a third as many consider society generally unfair and discriminatory.

While voters are proud of their country, they are more critical when asked if America is a land of liberty and justice for all. Only 46% say that the United States has reached that goal while nearly as many (40%) say it is not true.

Despite the overall level of pride in the nation's heritage, there are significant demographic differences.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of white voters are proud of U.S. history, but just 44% of African-Americans share that view. Just over one in five black voters (22%) think America is a land of liberty and justice for all, while 49% of white voters believe that to be true. Still, nearly equal numbers of both races support having school children say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.

Republicans are overwhelmingly more positive than Democrats about U.S. history, America as a role model and whether equality of justice exists here. For example, 91% of GOP voters express pride in America's past compared to 64% of Democrats. Seventy-three percent (73%) of unaffiliated voters agree.

Even more striking is the gap between the two parties on the question of whether the U.S. is truly a land of liberty and justice for all--72% of Republicans say yes but only 29% of Democrats agree. Unaffiliated voters again fall in between.

Yet well over half of Democrats (62%) support the daily saying of the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 69% of unaffiliated voters favor students saying the Pledge each morning.

Barack Obama gave a speech earlier in the week to define his view of patriotism, as the topic has entered the Presidential campaign dialogue. Obama has a very modest lead over Republican John McCain in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.