As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding, a new poll suggests that Americans are increasingly questioning some of the core ideas that have long defined the nation, including democracy itself.
According to a survey released Monday by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, fewer Americans now consider a democratically elected government to be central to the country's identity than they did just a few years ago. The findings are attributed to growing skepticism about American exceptionalism, declining faith in democratic institutions, and a widening generational divide over what it means to be American.
The poll found that roughly two-thirds of Americans say having a democratically elected government is an important part of the nation's identity. While still a majority, that figure represents a notable decline from 2021, when about 80% of Americans held that view. The survey also highlights growing doubts about America's place in the world.
Only about one-quarter of respondents said the United States stands above all other countries, while 44% described it as one of several great nations. Nearly three in 10 Americans said some countries are better than the United States, a significant increase from the 19% who expressed that view in a similar AP-NORC poll conducted a decade ago.
Researchers noted that younger Americans are driving much of the shift. Adults under 30 were substantially less likely than older generations to describe democracy as central to American identity or to believe that the United States is exceptional. Just 22% of young adults said the traditional concept of the American Dream remains attainable, according to the survey. The findings come at a symbolic moment for the country.
The survey also found a decline in the belief that Americans share a common culture and set of values. Just 56% of respondents said a shared culture is important to the nation's identity, down from 65% in 2017. Views on diversity remain sharply divided along partisan lines. About three-quarters of Democrats said cultural diversity is important to America's identity, compared with only about four in 10 Republicans.
The results build on years of polling that have shown persistent concerns about the health of U.S. democracy. In a 2024 AP-NORC survey, three-quarters of Americans still said democracy was important to the country's identity, but only 21% believed democracy was the best system of government, and a majority said it was functioning poorly.
The survey was conducted in April 2026 among 2,596 adults nationwide using NORC's AmeriSpeak panel and carries a margin of sampling error of approximately plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
