{"id":769,"date":"2026-07-02T18:39:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=769"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:39:55","slug":"ahead-of-americas-250th-most-say-nation-has-lost-its-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=769","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of America\u2019s 250th, Most Say Nation Has Lost Its Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news \u2014 make a <\/span><\/i>quick donation<\/span><\/i> to Truthout today!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s UFC Cage Fight Is an Apt Metaphor for a Nation Built on Colonial Violence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ahead of this weekend\u2019s Independence Day celebrations \u2014 with this year marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States \u2014 new polling suggests that most Americans believe the country has moved away from its founding principles, with an overwhelming number concerned that democracy is at risk of eroding.<\/p>\n

conducted last month and published earlier this week, only 16 percent of Americans believe the country still represents its founding ideals. Thirty-six percent say the country has moved somewhat away from them, while 47 percent say it has strayed far away, demonstrating that more than 8 in 10 Americans feel the country is straying from its original principles.<\/p>\n

One-third of respondents (35 percent) say they are not proud to be an American today. When given additional response options (other than \u201cproud\u201d or \u201cnot proud\u201d), only 22 percent said they were \u201cproud\u201d of the country on its 250th anniversary, while 23 percent said they were \u201chopeful.\u201d A majority of respondents had less than favorable responses to the question of how they felt about America, with 32 percent saying they are \u201cworried\u201d about the country\u2019s future, and 22 percent saying they are \u201cfrustrated\u201d with the current state of things. <\/p>\n

Americans are also concerned about how their government will function in the days ahead. Eighty two percent of respondents agreed with the statement that there is a serious threat to the future of democracy. Only 17 percent said there is not such a threat.<\/p>\n

Nearly 6 in 10 respondents (59 percent) said they are not confident that 50 years from now, when the country celebrates its tricentennial, Americans will be better off than they are now. <\/p>\n

Donald Trump\u2019s presidency may play a role in Americans\u2019 pessimism about the direction of the country. Indeed, a deeply unpopular war in Iran, rising gas prices, the highest rate of inflation seen in years, attacks on reproductive and voting rights (particularly for people of color), and the president\u2019s obsession with self-promotion and self-enrichment are just a few of the issues that appear to be taking a significant psychological toll on the American populace. <\/p>\n

Read more US-UK Deal Strips Funds From the National Health Service to Pay for Medications<\/a><\/p>\n

As the country falls into more right-wing Trumpian policies, separate polling suggests that the electorate desires a more progressive future for the country. , 52 percent of Americans support creating a national health care system (versus just 30 percent who favor keeping the privatized system in place). Fifty-five percent favor having the government pay for college tuition, and 57 percent would like to see the government build more public housing. <\/p>\n

A plurality of respondents want to see funding increased for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), while clear majorities want other social safety net programs\u2019 funding increased, including for Social Security (68 percent), Medicare (65 percent), Medicaid (55 percent), and for housing assistance (55 percent). <\/p>\n

Commentators have attributed the waning sense of national pride to the actions of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Donald Trump and J. D. Vance took office last year, they have set out to destroy both the institutions and the symbols\u201d Americans have come to appreciate, The Atlantic\u2019s<\/em> Anne Applebaum recently wrote. \u201cBecause they believe that only their clan represents America, that only people like them deserve to be considered \u2018real\u2019 Americans, and that the American government exists to serve them alone, they need to undermine anything that tells a more unifying story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBarely one-third of Americans still believe the American dream exists,\u201d radio host Thom Hartmann said in a statement to Truthout<\/em>, citing an AP<\/em>\/NORC poll published in June. \u201cTheir pessimism isn\u2019t a passing phase, it\u2019s millions of Americans who haven\u2019t necessarily stopped loving America, but who did the math and realized that the government isn\u2019t holding up its end of the social contract.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir attitudes won\u2019t change just because Independence Day is here, and they likely won\u2019t change until and unless the working class is empowered again,\u201d Hartmann added.<\/p>\n

Read more Judge Blocks Pentagon \u201cEscort\u201d Policy for Journalists Entering the Building<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Political observers attribute the decline in American pride and rising pessimism to the Trump administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAhead of America\u2019s 250th, Most Say Nation Has Lost Its Way - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=769\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ahead of America\u2019s 250th, Most Say Nation Has Lost Its Way - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Political observers attribute the decline in American pride and rising pessimism to the Trump administration\u2019s actions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=769\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T18:39:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Ahead of America\u2019s 250th, Most Say Nation Has Lost Its Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T18:39:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769\"},\"wordCount\":704,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5febb169006263b71c40d73e60854091.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=769\",\"name\":\"Ahead of America\u2019s 250th, Most Say Nation Has Lost Its Way - 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