Poll: Most Americans think the U.S. has strayed from its founding principles

By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/poll-most-americans-think-the-u-s-has-strayed-from-its-founding-principles Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Poll: Most Americans think the U.S. has strayed from its founding principles Politics Jul 1, 2026 5:00 AM EDT Most Americans believe the country has moved away from its founding principles as the nation prepares for its big 250th anniversary, a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll finds. Eighty-three percent of U.S. adults feel America has strayed from the ideals the country was founded on two-and-a-half centuries ago. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Among them, close to half of Americans — 47% — say the U.S. has "moved far away" from these principles, joined by 36% who said America has "moved somewhat away" from them. Another 16% said the country "pretty much still represents" those principles. About two-thirds of Americans — 65% — say they are "very proud" or "proud" to be an American. Another 35% say they're "not too proud" or "not proud at all." Graphic by Steff Staples/PBS News Michael D. Holcomb, a Trump supporter who lives in rural northeast Indiana, said it's not hard for him to be very proud of the country. "I've been patriotic ever since I can remember," the 72-year-old said. "I started out with nothing. Nobody gave us a hand up or anything, and both my wife and I are retired now. We're living comfortably and we did it all with the help of ourselves and God." But Morgan Fisher, an independent in Huntsville, Texas, said she's not so proud of the country today. To Fisher, 24, it's "embarrassing" that the U.S. has poor infrastructure and, unlike many other developed nations, does not offer universal healthcare. "We are currently sending more money to different countries, such as Israel, rather than investing in our own citizens," she said. "We all struggle with bills, but being worried about where your next meal is coming from is just ridiculous." READ MORE: How Americans are marking the country's big 2-5-0 Yet sidling those feelings around American pride is a strain of optimism. "Americans are not ready to toss in the towel," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. How Americans see the nation's founding ideals As part of the "America at a Crossroads" series, Judy Woodruff traveled to Vermont to explore what it means to be an American and reflect on what the founders built. Watch the segment in the player above. Over the last 50 years, Americans' views of whether the country is living up to its nascent promise has flagged. In 1976, ahead of the nation's bicentennial, the Roper Organization polled Americans about the nation's founding principles in the wake of the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. At the time, 30% of adults believed Ameri