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Polls Show Mixed Public Sentiment Ahead of U.S. 250th Anniversary
Recent surveys indicate that roughly 4 in 10 U.S. adults feel proud and 3 in 10 feel excited about the milestone. Partisan and age differences appear in how respondents describe their emotions.
Los Angeles TimesAudio version
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" A separate Gallup poll conducted May 1-17 showed that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults believe the country has succeeded a great deal or a fair amount in achieving its founding ideals. The same poll found that about 8 in 10 adults think the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed with how the country has turned out, up from 55 percent in 1999.
7 in 10 Republicans say "proud" describes their emotions, compared with about 3 in 10 independents and roughly 2 in 10 Democrats. Adults ages 60 and older are also more likely to express pride, with about 6 in 10 saying the term fits their feelings.
About 4 in 10 Democrats and roughly 3 in 10 adults under 30 say "conflicted" describes their feelings extremely or very well. About 3 in 10 in each group say "indifferent" fits their outlook.
A Gallup-With Honor poll conducted May 12-22 found that 44 percent of U.S. adults plan to celebrate by spending time with friends or family. About 3 in 10 say they plan to watch coverage of anniversary events on television or social media. More than half of adults ages 65 and older plan to celebrate with friends or family, while nearly half plan to watch coverage.
Adults under 30 are more likely than older groups to say they are not planning to celebrate at all. The AP-NORC survey of 2,596 adults had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. The Gallup-With Honor survey of 3,199 adults had a margin of plus or minus 2.1 points.
The separate Gallup survey of 1,001 adults had a margin of plus or minus 4.0 points.
