Data: PRRI American Identity Survey, May 1-18, 2026, PRRI American Identity Report; Chart: Russell Contreras/Axios
A profound identity crisis has gripped America ahead of its 250th birthday: Citizens are less proud, less religiously unified and losing faith that the American Dream still works.
Why it matters: Democracies can survive policy brawls. They struggle to function when citizens lose faith in shared institutions, abandon a common civic story and use politics to replace religion and community.
- A new survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) finds that Americans are retreating into ideological camps, viewing the opposing side not as a political rival, but as threats to democracy itself.
The big picture: 51% of Americans say they are extremely or very proud of being American, down sharply from 82% in 2013.
- Less than half of Democrats believe that being born in America (42%), believing in God (41%), or being Christian (29%) are important to national identity.
- Majorities of Republicans say being born in America, believing in God and being Christian are important to being truly American.
- Americans are also split on the American Dream, with less than half believing that hard work gets you ahead. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, belief in the American Dream has fallen from 50% in 2024 to 36% today.
Zoom in: "What you really see is one vision of the country, and one mood among Republicans, and a very, very different vision of the country and mood among both independents and Democrats," PRRI president and founder Robert P. Jones tells Axios.
- Jones said the survey shows a country that's increasingly divided between Republicans and everyone else on questions of faith, democracy and American identity.
- "Yes, we're polarized," Jones said, "but increasingly what we're seeing is Republicans as outliers, and further and further from the middle."
Between the lines: Only 51% of Americans say they are extremely or very proud of being American, down sharply from 82% in 2013.
- White evangelical Protestants are the most likely to say they are proud of being American, at 76%, followed by white Catholics at 66%.
- Pride falls below half among Hispanic Catholics at 47%, Black Protestants at 39%, and religiously unaffiliated Americans and members of other non-Christian religions at 32%.
- 52% of Jewish Americans say they are proud to be American amid rising antisemitic violence around the country.
The bottom line: Only 18% of Americans are extremely or very proud of the way democracy is working in America today.
Methodology: PRRI conducted the survey online between May 1-18, 2026. The poll is based on a representative sample of 5,469 adults living in all 50 states.
- The margin of error is ±1.53 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample.
Editor's note: This article was updated to add more details on religious groups and pride in America.
