As America’s 250th anniversary rapidly approaches, national pride among Democrats is alarmingly low. Ninety percent of Republican respondents reported being “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American compared to just 29 percent of Democrats, according to a new NBC News poll. This brings the share of Americans who fall within these two categories to 56 percent, a record low since NBC ran this poll for the first time in 2001.
This partisan divide is not just present among everyday Americans. When President Donald Trump congratulated the U.S. men’s national hockey team for defeating Canada in the Olympics during his State of the Union address, many Democrats stayed seated and refused to clap. At the same time, other audience members broke out in chants of “USA! USA! USA!”
