Who Are the People Who Believe in Traditional American Values?

My VIPs for this week are the American patriots who maintain the traditional American values, such as patriotism, religious faith, having children, and belonging to a community. The results of a recent Wall Street Journal survey were recently released, and they show a decline in Americans who consider such values important.

The poll was conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, and pollsters surveyed 1,019 people between March 1 and 13, 2023. The results show nearly a third – 38% of Americans consider “patriotism” to be “very important” to them as compared to 70% in 1998. The results also show that about the same percentage – 39% consider “religion” to be “very important,” as compared to 62% in 1998. A smaller percentage—30% -- consider “raising children” to be “very important” compared to 59% in 1998 – 25 years ago.

However, we can tell that the values of participants are in the right place because 58% of those surveyed consider “tolerance” to be “very important,” this percentage is down from 80% in 2019. The only value that increased in importance to Americans –38% - was “money,” which was only 31% in 1998. In her article about the poll, Candace Hathaway shared the following.

The poll found that those under 30 were less likely than those 65 and older to hold traditional American values.

For example, only 23% of younger people stated that patriotism is “very important” while 59% of older people stated the same. Additionally, only 31% of those under 30 placed the same importance on faith, while 55% of those 65 and older agreed. Just 23% of young respondents valued having children as “very important,” while 32% of seniors stated the same.

The polling gaps largely fell along political party lines, with more Republicans than Democrats deeming traditional American values as important.

Republican pollster Bill McInturff attributed the “dramatic” shift in values to the recent contentious political climate. He stated that the recent poll “paints a new and surprising portrait of a changing America.”

“Perhaps the toll of our political division, COVID and the lowest economic confidence in decades is having a startling effect on our core values,” McInturff told the WSJ.

The survey found that 63% of Americans do not want companies to take a stand on social and political issues. It also revealed that 43% of respondents feel that the country has “gone too far” with transgender issues, compared to 33% who feel society has not gone far enough. Additionally, half of Americans stated they do not like being asked to refer to someone by gender-neutral pronouns, such as “they” and “them.”