Gen Z's declining patriotism worries me. Partisanship shouldn't define us.
Every year, Gallup conducts a poll on the patriotic leanings of Americans across all sorts of demographics. In recent years, this poll has produced worrying results.
There is now a massive generational and partisan divide in how much pride people have in being American. I don't know how to solve it, but I know why those who are losing faith in America are wrong.
In the 2025 iteration of this poll, a staggering 92% of Republicans were 'extremely' or 'very' proud to be American, whereas just 53% of independents and 36% of Democrats reported feeling the same.
Until 2016, Democrats and Republicans remained rather similar in their patriotism, with both reaching values above 80% before the election of President Donald Trump. However, modern patriotism among Democrats is dependent on who is in the White House, rather than any genuine love of America.
During the time that Joe Biden was in the White House, Republican pride in being American bottomed out at 84%. Over the same period, Democrats rose to a peak of just 62%.
One significant driver of this decline is Generation Z, born between 1997 to 2012, whose patriotism lags far behind previous generations. Just 41% of Gen Z is extremely or very proud to be American, and among young Democrats, that falls to just 24%.
Partisanship is getting in the way of patriotism for Democrats
Being proud to be American has absolutely nothing to do with being proud of our current leaders. In their fluctuations in pride depending on who is in the White House, Democrats have lost sight of this.
I am one of the most critical people of our government out there, and I think of that as being borne out of my patriotism. Criticizing the government when it does not strengthen America's foundational principles is a patriotic act.
My fellow columnist Rex Huppke has the right idea. 'We can love this country and loathe the people in charge,' he wrote in a recent column. 'We can be simultaneously proud of this country and embarrassed of the things being done in its name.'
Tell us: This Fourth of July, are you proud to be an American? | Opinion Forum
Now, obviously, I am no Democrat, but it saddens me that this same principle apparently does not hold for many of them. To many Democrats in modern times, it seems as if their love for this country is contingent on their preferred candidates being in power.
Interestingly, this seems to be a problem unique to Democrats. While some Republicans seemingly faltered in their patriotism over the previous four years, they did not see the massive swing between the Biden and Trump presidencies that Democrats saw over the same period.
This is all evidence of the fact that Democrats have attached their pride to a political movement, rather than to a love of America's founding principles. For some, this is a problem of them simply being blinded by partisanship. For others, however, it marks a much deeper problem.
America's failures to live up to her founding principles at times are not evidence of those principles being bad; they are evidence of human nature being imperfect.
Gen Z doesn't know how good we have it
Much of Gen Z has been captured by the progressive left, many of whom do genuinely believe that America's institutions and system of government need to be torn down completely. These revolutionaries are responsible for the complete lack of patriotism among Gen Z.
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Gen Z doesn't realize how lucky we are. We live in the greatest country and in the greatest time in history. There is no collective group that has it better at any point in history than we do right now.
Many will disagree with me on this point, but they are mistaken. There is no place better constructed to safeguard your individual liberties than here. While we are very obviously imperfect in that goal, no other nation on earth is better equipped to pursue liberty through the freedoms that our Constitution protects.
Tearing down the system that has led to such a wonderful place would be a mistake. Within a framework designed to preserve liberty is the best place to enact whatever political change it is that you want, unless your goal is not liberty.
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Those who advocate against America's foundation might feel entitled ‒ in the sense that they believe it is the job of government to provide for them ‒ have taken the freedoms that we have for granted or are delusional about how good others have it.
I do not know how to solve the problem of restoring patriotism to those who have lost it. I am sympathetic to the frustrations young Americans have with the state of our politics, and I am hopeful that Gen Z will learn that they are better off trying to change this country, rather than destroy it.
America is a wonderful place, and you would do best to fight for your political causes within her structure of liberty, rather than attempting to tear it down.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
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