The Elon University Poll marked the nation’s 250th anniversary by asking Americans for their views on our country’s past, present and future.
The fireworks have faded and the commemorative events marking the nation’s 250th birthday have passed, but the questions raised by this milestone anniversary remain.
How well is the United States living up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence?
Which moments in the nation’s history represent American democracy at its best?
How do Americans assess the country’s current condition?
What do people expect the nation to look like when it celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2076?
Those were some of the questions behind one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the Elon University Poll. The findings were cited in nearly 600 media stories and opinion pieces across the ideological spectrum and contributed to public discussion during the nation’s semiquincentennial.
Established in 2000, the Elon University Poll is among the country’s longest running university-based public opinion polling organizations, with a reputation for accuracy in measuring public opinion on elections, public policy and issues affecting North Carolina and the nation. The America250 project built on that foundation to explore questions that are rarely included in national polling.
Professor Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll, coordinated with a group of faculty and staff to dig deep into the American psyche, stepping away from typical questions related to current events to explore how Americans think about their nation’s past, present and future. The result was a comprehensive report released just weeks before Independence Day that offered a broad portrait of how Americans view the United States at one of the most significant milestones in its history.
Husser, a professor of political science and public policy, said Americans’ divergent views in the survey results were not surprising. “Pluralistic, democratic societies rarely generate true consensus about public affairs,” Husser says. “Nonetheless, when we read the findings in their totality, especially considering the optimism of young Americans, we see an underlying theme of perseverance perhaps best reflected in three-quarters of Americans who agreed with President Abraham Lincoln: ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’”
Proud of the country, concerned about its direction
Taken together, the results revealed a public that remains strongly attached to the United States while expressing considerable concern about its democratic institutions.
Nearly seven in 10 Americans said they are proud to be American, and two-thirds said they would not want to live in another country. At the same time, 52% said the nation is not successfully living up to its founding ideals, while 73% rated the overall health of American democracy as only “fair” or “poor.”
Forty percent said that at least once a week they have felt the nation is on the brink of a major crisis, and 70% said the current period is more turbulent and unstable than average across U.S. history.
Those findings echoed a theme that appeared throughout the survey: Americans expressed confidence in many of the country’s enduring ideals while offering a more cautious assessment of its present condition.
That pattern appeared in one of the survey’s most widely discussed results: 69% of respondents said they believe the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be more disappointed than proud if they could see American democracy today.
Reflecting on the nation’s history
The survey also invited Americans to think about the nation’s defining moments and leaders.
Asked which event best represented American democracy at its highest ideals, respondents most often selected the Civil Rights Movement, followed by World War II and the end of slavery. Abraham Lincoln was named both the historical figure who best exemplified American democracy and the nation’s greatest president. Other top presidents, in order of popularity, included Barack Obama, George Washington, Donald Trump, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
Looking ahead
If Americans found inspiration in parts of the nation’s past, they expressed greater uncertainty about its future.
Sizable majorities predicted that by 2076 the country will be more politically divided, have more polluted air and water, and less freedom for citizens. Only about one-third expressed confidence that American political institutions would make mostly good decisions over the next 50 years.
Yet the survey also uncovered a notable generational pattern. Across many questions, younger adults expressed more optimism than older Americans. Respondents under 30 were more likely to believe the nation is living up to its founding ideals and more confident that American institutions will make good decisions in the decades ahead.
Toward a ‘more perfect union’
Elon University President Connie Ledoux Book wrote in the report’s introduction that civic engagement has long been central to the university’s mission.
“Elon was founded in an era when American higher education increasingly saw democracy itself as dependent on an informed and engaged citizenry,” Book wrote. “That conviction remains central to the university today.”
For the Elon University Poll, the America250 project demonstrates a broader role that universities can play in public life. Beyond measuring elections and political campaigns, polling can also document how Americans understand their democracy, their history and their future. As the nation looks forward to its tricentennial in 2076, this survey provides an important benchmark as Americans continue to strive for the “more perfect union” envisioned in the U.S. Constitution.
The America250 survey, conducted April 30 through May 4 with field work by the international polling firm YouGov, included responses from 1,000 adults nationwide and was designed to represent the U.S. adult population. For the survey report, full data and methodology, visit elon.edu/elonpoll.