Poll shows fewer Americans view democracy as central to national identity

A new poll shows that fewer Americans now consider a democratically elected government central to U.S. identity. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 66 percent of respondents described a democratically elected government as either extremely important or very important to the United States' identity as a nation.

Twenty percent called it somewhat important, 13 percent said it was not too important or not important at all, and 1 percent declined to answer. Two years earlier, 76 percent of respondents gave the same top-two ratings, a 10-point decline. In 2021 the figure stood at 80 percent.

Views of the country The same survey recorded a drop in how respondents rated the United States overall. Forty-four percent said the country is one of the greatest in the world along with some others, compared with 51 percent in 2024. The poll was conducted April 16-20 with 2,596 adults and carries a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The survey was released shortly before the United States marks its 250th anniversary on July 4. A separate Quinnipiac University poll released around the same time found that more than half of Americans said the country's system of democracy is not working.