Two-thirds of Americans say they are proud of America's 250th anniversary, with 84 percent saying it’s time to celebrate America and 70 percent saying it’s the greatest country in the world or one of the few greatest.
Ninety-two percent say hard work is an important value to them personally, with 71 percent saying patriotism is important and 68 percent saying belief in God is important. Ninety-two percent say respect for private property, free markets, and free enterprise are extremely, very, or somewhat important to the United States' identity as a nation, and 73 percent are extremely, very, or moderately proud of America's history.
Americans have less confidence in the press than they do in the police, the military, or the executive branch of the U.S. government. Forty-four percent of people think the news media has too much power in Washington. Forty-two percent of Americans think religion currently has too little influence on what children are taught in public school.
What do all these statistics have in common? They are findings of a recent Wall Street Journal/National Opinion Research Center survey of Americans, and they weren't reported in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal instead managed to put a negative spin on its own poll, publishing headlines contending "Poll Finds America in Dark Mood at 250" and "Patriotism, Religious Faith Lose Ground" that cherry-picked glum findings from the survey while omitting the more encouraging results. The online headline flagged that "America’s Support for Capitalism Has Declined Over Last Decade" without mentioning the finding about free markets and free enterprise.
The online version of the Journal includes a hyperlink to a 25-page pdf of the full findings, but few are likely to click through. The whole thing helps explain the survey finding about lack of confidence in the press.
Surveys have long found greater support for "free enterprise" than "capitalism," even though the two terms describe essentially the identical system.
Changes in survey results can sometimes be significant, but focusing on the changes alone rather than on the levels can distort understanding. The Journal’s front-page summary of the survey emphasized the changes: "Just under half of Americans say capitalism is working very well or somewhat well, down from 60% who said so about a decade ago," the Journal said. "The survey also found sharp declines in patriotism and religion."
Yet even after the "sharp" decline in religion, 68 percent say belief in God is important. That may make the decline seem less alarming.
The National Opinion Research Center is a University of Chicago-affiliated research center that does about $100 million a year worth of research for the federal government. It also partners with other customers, including news organizations.
The interviews were conducted between June 11 and June 18, 2026, and the survey included 1,862 adults. The results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. Forty-one percent of the people in the survey did not vote in the 2024 presidential election.
The Journal made the public mood seem more gloomy by selecting some narrow categories to report rather than lumping categories together. For example, a graphic about pride in America’s history only reported results for those who were "extremely" or "very" proud in America’s history without including or reporting those who said they were "moderately" proud. Some respondents may have just thought they were voting for moderation rather than extremism or may have thought of themselves as moderates. For the question, 34 percent said they were moderately proud, 15 percent said they were extremely proud, and 24 percent said they were very proud.
The author of the Journal article didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking an explanation for the negative spin.
I’m not saying that all the negativity is fake. Lots of people don’t like President Trump, and some of their negative feelings about him transfer to America as a whole. The country certainly isn’t perfect. The K-12 education system and higher education have in recent years overemphasized America’s flaws. And foreign adversaries are running sophisticated social media and information campaigns aimed at weakening America by emphasizing narratives of chaos, racism, and division. The survey findings showing some weakening in church attendance or in support for capitalism among young people are not unique to this poll; they are duplicated elsewhere, suggesting that there’s something to them. For those stuck in Northern states with bad tax and regulatory policies, the economy can feel grim, especially for young people.
Yet the vast majority of Americans aren’t fleeing for Canada or Europe. Instead, people from other countries want to come here. Readers tend to click more on bad news, so journalists have incentives that fuel the negativity bias. Yet the 84 percent of survey respondents who say it’s okay to celebrate are correct. As Dave Barry put it at the end of a the other day, "What makes America great — prepare for a searing insight — is Americans. I don’t mean American politicians; I mean everyday, hardworking, generous, friendly, decent Americans, who I believe greatly outnumber the idiots." The headline could have been, "Poll finds Americans in proud, celebratory mood at 250—and we’re right."