The flag. Picnics. Fireworks. A baseball game.
Patriotic symbols are meant to unite, but it turns out that red America and blue America have different ways of celebrating the Fourth of July. Although, not surprisingly, everyone loves a good picnic.
A new poll conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News found that some of the country’s most powerful patriotic symbols were more likely to be embraced by Republicans than Democrats.
When asked if they planned to fly a flag on Independence Day, 82% of Republicans said they would, compared with 62% of Democrats. Republicans were more likely to say they would say the Pledge of Allegiance (70%) or sing the national anthem (67%). But nearly as many Republicans as Democrats said they would watch fireworks, shop at a small business or volunteer in their community on July 4.
The poll was conducted June 28-29 by HarrisX among 1,314 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Are Americans proud of their country?
The vast majority of Americans, red or blue, said they are proud of their country.
When asked if they were proud to be American, 92% of all respondents said they were very or somewhat proud. Republicans were most likely to say very proud, at 78%, while 64% of Democrats and 56% of independents agreed.
The least likely to say very proud? Young voters, ages 18-34, with just 43% choosing that option — though another 37% said they were somewhat proud.
This poll is consistent with Gallup’s long-standing surveys of the American public on American pride. While the share of American voters in Gallup’s polls who say they are “extremely proud” to be American is near a record low, nearly 90 percent of Americans are at least somewhat proud. The divide between Democrats and Republicans, and between old and young, is also present in Gallup’s polls — though “the fact that Republicans tend to be older than Democrats and independents also contributes to the partisan divide,” Gallup notes.
Do we still believe in American exceptionalism?
When Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, ran for president in 2012, he did so on a platform of American exceptionalism, calling the United States “an exceptional country with a unique destiny and a unique role in the world.” It was the title of one of his books: “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.”
Former President Donald Trump opposed the idea shortly before the start of his 2016 presidential campaign, saying he didn’t like the term. Still, a section on “American exceptionalism” was included in the GOP platform in both 2016 and 2020, describing it as “the idea that our ideas and principles as a nation give us a unique place of moral leadership in the world.”
The idea that the US is, or should be, a moral beacon for the rest of the world still persists among most Americans.
When asked whether they agreed more with the statement, “I believe in American exceptionalism, or that the United States is distinctive, unique, and exemplary of countries around the world because of its values, history, and achievements,” or “I do not believe in American exceptionalism because the United States has just as many problems as other countries,” a large majority — 7 in 10 — chose exceptionalism.
Republicans were more likely to say the U.S. is exceptional, with 79% choosing that option compared to 68% of Democrats. The older respondents were, the more likely they were to support the idea of American exceptionalism.
On a related question — whether the U.S. is “the best country in the world” or “an excellent country, but we’re still working on some problems,” 68% of Republicans chose one of those two options, while 60% of Democrats did so. That number dropped to 51% among independent voters.
More than half of voters between the ages of 18 and 34 said the U.S. is either “a good country, but we have a lot of big problems,” “just OK because we struggle with systemic problems,” or “a bad country, many other countries are much better.”
Is the American flag a political symbol?
A significantly larger share of Republicans (82%) than Democrats (62%) say they plan to fly an American flag on July 4. And when asked whether they think political ideology influences the decision to fly a flag, most Republicans (51%) said conservatives are more likely to, while most Democrats (60%) said both conservatives and liberals are equally likely to fly a flag.
The data seem consistent with a larger trend in which the American flag means different things to different people based on political ideology. In 2021, The New York Times reported that flying the flag “is increasingly seen as a signal, if an imperfect one, of one’s political leanings in a deeply divided country.” A 2022 Harvard Political Review article argued that the flag “has become a symbol of the conservative American, not of shared American values.”
Do Red America and Blue America celebrate the Fourth differently?
When it comes to celebrating the Fourth of July, Americans of all political parties have more in common than they differ.
Nearly as many Republicans as Democrats say they enjoy spending time with their family, having a barbecue or picnic, or watching fireworks.
But when it comes to decorating, more Republicans (28%) than Democrats (18%) said they like to put up “red, white and blue decorations.”
Least likely to go to a parade? Independent voters, at 16%, about five points behind their Republican and Democratic counterparts.
When asked whether the Fourth of July was more about spending time with friends and family, or about remembering and celebrating American independence, six in 10 Democrats chose friends and family, while about the same number of Republicans said they celebrated independence. Independents sided with the Democrats on this issue.
