Key Takeaways
Pride and gratitude are near-universal, and separate from political satisfaction. In June 2024, 85% felt proud to be American and 90% grateful, despite polarization and discontent with the country’s direction.
The founding ideals still command broad agreement. 82% say the Declaration’s principles are relevant, 83% believe Americans should be proud of the Founders, and 87% say Independence Day belongs to all Americans.
Acknowledging America’s failures doesn’t cancel out attachment to it. 76% agreed honoring the Founders, despite their mistakes on slavery, unifies a diverse country the report’s main point that criticism and patriotism can coexist.
National identity outranks racial or ethnic identity for most voters. The majority of people, 87%, saw themselves primarily as American rather than as a person of color. Additionally, 83% felt more connected to being American than to their race or ethnicity.
Dissatisfaction is about repair, not rejection. The 2022 survey found 67% say “America is currently not working,” while 88% call the U.S. a good country and 87% want to “restore the America that works”—showing dissatisfaction aimed at restoring standards rather than discarding them.
Why It Matters
The 25th anniversary of September 11 is about remembrance first. Remembering those who were killed, those who ran toward danger, those who served in the years that followed, and a country so drastically altered by a single event.
But after 25 years, we look to see where a nation has carried forward. ANMP’s polling shows that even after years of political conflict, large majorities still see America as a country worth believing in and still recognize a shared civic identity that reaches beyond partisan divisions.
Pride in America Remains a Broad Majority View
In June 2024, 85% agreed: “I am proud to be an American.”
An even larger 90% agreed: “I am grateful to be an American.”
Those results are important because they capture something more durable than satisfaction with a president, Congress, or the direction of the country. Pride and gratitude toward America remained overwhelming even in a highly polarized political environment.
2024 ANMP topline results. Percentages shown are total agreement.
87% agreed that Independence Day should be celebrated by Americans of every race, color, and creed.
83% agreed that all Americans should take pride in the Founders’ achievement in declaring independence and establishing the world’s longest-surviving democracy.
82% said the principles contained in the Declaration of Independence are still relevant today.
76% agreed that honoring the Founders for what they accomplished, despite their being wrong about slavery, is an essential part of helping unify a country as diverse as America.
The pattern is consistent: voters do not have to overlook America’s failures to believe its founding ideals remain relevant or that its national story can still unify people from different backgrounds.
2024 ANMP topline results. Percentages shown are total agreement
The Historical Arc: Americans Still Saw Themselves as Americans
ANMP found the same underlying attachment three years earlier. In May 2021, voters overwhelmingly chose an American identity when asked to weigh it against narrower racial or ethnic identities, and large majorities expressed confidence in the country itself.
87% primarily thought of themselves as American rather than as a person of color.
83% identified more as American than by their racial or ethnic background.
78% agreed that the United States is the greatest country on Earth.
75% agreed that the United States is the most free and democratic country in the world.
2021 ANMP topline results. Identity questions report the share choosing the American response; the final two report total agreement.
Disappointment With America Was Not Rejection of America
The May 2022 survey captured a revealing tension. Americans were dissatisfied, but their dissatisfaction reflected a desire to repair the country rather than abandon it.
88% agreed that the United States of America is a good country.
At the same time, 67% agreed that “America is currently not working.”
And 87% agreed: “We need to restore the America that works.”
That combination matters on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Voters can believe the country is failing to meet its standards while still believing those standards are worth recovering. Criticism and patriotism are not opposites in the data.
2022 ANMP topline results. Percentages shown are total agreement
September 11 Is a Reminder of What National Unity Looks Like
The lesson of September 11 is not that Americans stopped disagreeing. They did not. It is that when confronted with something larger than politics, Americans were capable of looking beyond political, social, and economic labels to see one another first as fellow citizens.
ANMP’s polling suggests the foundation for that kind of unity still exists. Americans continue to express overwhelming attachment to the country, its ideals, its freedom, and a common national identity, even as they disagree over whether the country is living up to those ideals.
The Bottom Line-25 years Later
September 11, 2001, showed America at its most vulnerable. It also showed Americans at their most courageous and united.
Twenty-five years later, the country is different. A generation has grown up. Wars have been fought. The nation has become more polarized. But the data shows us something worth remembering, the American identity survived.
Large majorities still say they are proud and grateful to be Americans. They believe the principles our nation was founded on remain relevant. They believe national traditions can belong to Americans of every race, color, and creed.
On this 25th anniversary of September 11, we remember what Americans discovered about one another in the days that followed that while our disagreements are real so is what we share.
Survey sources: ANMP / McLaughlin & Associates national toplines - May 18, 2021 (N=1,000); May 9-14, 2022 (N=2,000, MOE +/-2%); June 20-24, 2024 (N=2,000, MOE +/-2%).
What’s Next
We will have more analysis from our ongoing polling on whats influencing the American voter in this years Mid-Term elections.
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Twenty-Five Years After 9/11, Americans Still Believe in America
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