As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in July, new national polling suggests that patriotism—long considered a shared civic value—has become increasingly divided by both generation and party.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute survey conducted by Morning Consult in April found that younger Americans, namely Gen Z and millennials, were significantly less likely to describe themselves as patriotic than older generations.
This age-based divide in patriotism could have long-term consequences for civic participation, party alignment and national cohesion.
Why It Matters
National identity has long been one of the few broadly shared traits across party lines, but recent polling suggests that consensus cannot be taken for granted, especially among younger Americans. Meanwhile, an age gap in patriotism signals deeper shifts in political socialization.
A Clear Age Gap in Patriotism
The findings come from the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey conducted by Morning Consult between April 15 and 19 among 2,057 registered U.S. voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Nationally, 69 percent of respondents said they were either “somewhat” or “very” patriotic.
Matthew Wilson, an associate professor at Southern Methodist University, described the figure as low, calling it an “unfortunate development” that has emerged relatively recently.
The most striking variation in the data appears across age groups.
Among Americans aged 18 to 34, 56 percent said they were somewhat or very patriotic.
That rises to 61 percent among those aged 35 to 44 and 67 percent among those aged 45 to 64.
Among the oldest cohort, levels are markedly higher, with 86 percent describing themselves as patriotic.
Taken together, the data shows a clear generational gradient: Each successive age group reports higher levels of patriotism than the one below it, as seen in the chart above.
A Partisan Divide on Patriotism
The poll also found a clear gap across party lines, with Republicans significantly more likely than Democrats to describe themselves as patriotic.
Nationally, 82 percent of Republican respondents said they were either “somewhat” or “very” patriotic, compared with 61 percent of Democrats—a 21-point difference.
The findings point to a broader political divide over national identity, underscoring how expressions of patriotism are increasingly shaped by partisanship rather than remaining a shared civic sentiment.
What Is Driving the Patriotism Age Gap
Wilson said the generational divide reflects differences in political upbringing and institutional trust.
Younger Americans, he said, have come of age during a period of intense political polarization, which may leave them more “disillusioned” about national identity and civic institutions.
Education has also shifted in ways that could shape attitudes toward patriotism.
Wilson argued that older generations were more likely to receive what he described as “America-positive” narratives in school—an approach that emphasized pride in national history and institutions as part of civic socialization.
“I think in the school system, as millennials and Gen Z have experienced it, that is much less the case,” Wilson said, pointing to a curriculum that he said places greater emphasis on historical shortcomings and systemic challenges.
The result, he suggested, is a cohort that has been exposed to a more critical interpretation of American history, with less emphasis on cultivating patriotic identity.
A Broader Pattern Beyond One Poll
Other surveys using comparable wording point to similar, though not identical, shifts in sentiment.
A YouGov survey conducted June 24-26, 2025, found that 31 percent of Americans described themselves as “very patriotic,” down from 39 percent in a June 2024 YouGov/The Economist poll using the same measure.
In the 2025 survey, 72 percent of respondents overall described themselves as patriotic, indicating that while baseline levels remain relatively high, the intensity of patriotic identification may be softening.
Longer-running measures of national pride tell a similar story over a multi-decade horizon.
Gallup polling, summarized in an Associated Press analysis, shows that about 9 in 10 Americans said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be American when the question was first asked in 2001, compared with about 8 in 10 in 2006, and 58 percent in more recent data from 2025.
While “national pride” is not identical to self-described patriotism, both series point in the same direction: declining intensity and widening divisions, particularly across demographic lines.
What the Generational Divide Suggests
Generational differences in attitudes toward patriotism often reflect cohort effects rather than short-term fluctuations.
Younger voters tend to carry the imprint of the political and cultural environment in which they came of age.
In the current case, that environment includes sustained partisan conflict, debates over historical interpretation and declining trust in institutions.
Wilson argued that the decline in patriotism among younger Americans is best understood not as a temporary dip but as part of a broader transformation in how national identity is formed and expressed.
That shift may not necessarily signal disengagement from civic life. Rather, it could reflect a redefinition of what patriotism means—moving away from traditional expressions toward a more contested and politicized concept.
For now, the polling suggests a clear reality: Patriotism remains widespread in the United States, but it is no longer distributed evenly across generations.