Polls Show Falling US Pride Among Youth and Democrats (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: There has been a major shift over the last decade among young adults in terms of how they feel their pride in being an American. Because what are we talking about here? Well, let's just take a look. Under age 35, pride to be an American, extremely or very proud? You go back a decade ago under Barack Obama, it was 71% of those under the age of 35 were extremely or very proud to be American. That number has fallen through the floor. Look at this now. That number has fallen in half now. It's 36% of those under the age of 35 are either extremely or very proud to be an American. And this is a number that we've seen across the polling data. There has just been a major shift, a historic shift in the pride that young Americans feel for their country.

[00:00:42] Speaker 2: Let's go, let's break that down by party over. Do you have this over the same period of time among Democrats?

[00:00:47] Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. So there are two reasons why pride in this country are falling. One is younger Americans. The other is Democrats. Okay. Let's take a look here. This is from 2013 to late 2025, a slightly different survey. But if you look at the same survey that I was looking at on the first slide, it's the exact same story. Democrats pride to be an American, extremely or very proud. In 2013, it was 83% under Barack Obama. Look at this number now. Just 31% of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud to be an American. That is the lowest, the lowest number on record. When you combine both youth and being a Democrat, that number falls into the 20s, falls into the 20 young Democrats, Generation Z Democrats. Less than 30% of them are either extremely or very proud to be an American. So what we're seeing here is both age as well as partisanship playing a major role in the fact that pride and the proudness to be an American, either extremely or very proud, is at record lows.

[00:01:50] Speaker 2: And the motivations, just look at the time period for Democrats, is in line with how politics have changed. How about Republicans?

[00:01:58] Speaker 1: Okay. This is where it gets interesting, right? Because you mentioned, right, and I had mentioned that Barack Obama was president in the mid-2010s and now Donald Trump, a Republican, Democrat to Republican being president. But what about Republicans? Their numbers have actually stayed pretty steady. So let's take a look at this exact same poll. Republicans pride to be an American, extremely or very proud. In 2013, it was 92%. By late 2025, pretty close, right? 80%, maybe a slight fall in this PRI survey. But I went on the Gallup poll, which measures over a similar period. There was no change. There was no change. So what we're seeing is we see younger people and Democrats really shifting away, shifting downward in their proudness to be an American, while Republicans have stayed pretty steady despite the partisanship of the president changing, but Democrats very much shifting away as the partisanship of the president saying Donald Trump has really sort of changed the equation for young Americans and Democratic Americans, or those who identify as Democrats, while he really hasn't changed the equation when it comes to Republicans, whose pride levels have actually remained fairly steady over the same period.

[00:03:02] Speaker 2: Very interesting look. Thanks, Harry.

[00:03:03] Speaker 3: Thank you. U.S. Olympic skier Hunter Hess is defending his right to speak out. In a post on Instagram, he writes, I love my country, and adds, there's so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better. One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out. The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided, we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete. He was responding to a public rebuke from President Trump this weekend after saying this on Friday at the Winter Games in Milan.

[00:03:37] Speaker 4: It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S. So, yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.

[00:04:00] Speaker 3: Well, the president criticized him in a post on Truth Social. Quote, U.S. Olympic skier Hunter Hess, a real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics. If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team, and it's too bad he's on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. Other U.S. Olympians are also speaking out, including snowboarder Khloe Kim and skier Chris Lillis, who says he's heartbroken about the raids by ice and the protests that they've sparked.

[00:04:27] Speaker 5: I love the USA, and I think I would never want to represent a different country in the Olympics. With that being said, I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and making sure that we're treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect.

[00:04:45] Speaker 6: I'm really proud to represent the United States. The U.S. has given my family and I so much opportunity, but I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions on what's going on, and I think that we need to lead with love and compassion, and I would love to see some more of that.

[00:05:06] Speaker 7: A couple people answered questions about what was happening in the U.S. and Minnesota. For some reason, Hunter Hess is bearing the brunt of the criticism from the president. Can you talk about why this is playing out the way it is?

[00:05:21] Speaker 8: Well, there's sort of been a longstanding convention that when a politician or a member of the U.S. is sort of in the foreign sphere, you kind of present it. No airing the dirty laundry. We're also in an era where everyone in the world can see footage of what's happening in the U.S. I mean, think about how we view footage of protests happening in other countries. It seems like a very big deal, and so for U.S. athletes, for them to not address those concerns – and keep in mind, we're basically a 50-50 country, right? The rest of the world sees the administration, they think this is official U.S. policy, but about half the country does not want to be associated with this.

[00:06:01] Speaker 7: Also, the statement was so anodyne. It was. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of. I mean, there's – I've heard more intense things, but here's Byron Donald's response. You chose to wear our flag, you chose to represent our country, you chose to compete at the Olympics. If that's too hard for you, then go home. Some things are bigger than politics, and you just don't get it.

[00:06:24] Speaker 9: Here's where I have a problem with all of this, that you could put the words from Hunter Hess into Charlie Kirk's mouth, and it would have the same meaning. We talked about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and why that was important. It was because he was opening up debate for young Americans to be able to speak at and talk back and forth and have a dialogue, and we have this violence in this country, but we're having this dialogue. I read what Hunter Hess is reading. I could absolutely see where that would come out as a tweet from – in the past from a Charlie Kirk or someone else.

[00:06:59] Speaker 7: But is that where the party is right now, when you look at his responses?

[00:07:03] Speaker 9: I am actually saddened by responses like that, because to me, he has every right to say this. Where you are going, that politics ends at the border, is a quaint notion that we had from years ago, because social media and everything else has made it so that we do know what's happening in the rest of the world, and we as Americans should have the right to have this dialogue. And I think I'd be intellectually dishonest if I didn't point that out.

[00:07:27] Speaker 10: I'm so glad you're saying that, Mike. But we also have to look back and figure out why this is happening now. And the reason why this is happening now is because what is happening on the streets of the United States has never happened before. That's why these images are so disturbing, not just to people in this country and not just to the communities that are suffering from all of the violence that is being imposed by these rogue ICE agents, but people around the world are seeing it. And they are now saying, oh my God, we have never seen this from the United States of America. And they're right.

[00:07:59] Speaker 7: Christine Brennan actually mentioned that when J.D. Vance was booed, that the Olympic team was not booed. Exactly. The crowd understood the difference between the government and its people. That's right.