Name: Proud to be American? Enten runs the numbers
Uploaded: 2026-02-11T17:01:54.000Z
Duration: 8 min 12 s
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There has been a major shift over the last decade among young adults in terms of how they feel their pride in being an American.

Transition words & phrases

Adverbs of degree

Under age 35, pride to be an American, extremely or very proud.

You go back a decade ago under Barack Obama with 71% of those under the age of 35 were extremely or very proud to be American.

That number has fallen through the floor.

Now just 36% percent of those under the age of 35 are either extremely or very proud to be an American.

And this is a number that we've seen across the polling data.

There has just been a major shift, a historic shift in the pride that young Americans feel for their country.

Let's go, let's break that down by party over.

Do you have this over the same period of time among Democrats?

Okay, so there are two reasons why pride in this country are falling.

This is from 2013 to late 2025, a slightly different survey.

But if you look at the same survey that I was looking at in the first slide, it's the exact same story.

Democrats pride, to me in America, extremely are very proud.

Just 31% of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud to be an American.

That is the lowest, the lowest number on record.

When you combine both youth and being a Democrat, that number falls into the 20s, falls into the 20.

Democrats, less than 30% of them are either extremely or very proud to be an American.

So what we're seeing here is both age as well as partisanship playing a major role in the fact that pride and, and

the proudness to be an American either extremely or very proud is at record lows.

And the motivations, just look at the time period for Democrats is in line with how politics have changed.

Okay, this is where it gets interesting, right, because you mentioned, right, and

I had mentioned that Barack Obama was president in the mid 20 teens and now Donald Trump, a Republican, Democrat to Republican being president.

Their numbers have actually stayed pretty steady.

So let's take a look at, at this exact same poll.

But I will note in the Gallup poll, which measures over a similar period.

So what we're seeing is we see younger people and Democrats really shifting away, shifting downward in their proudness to be an American.

Or while Republicans have stayed pretty steady despite the partisanship of the president changing, but

Democrats very much shifting away as the partisanship of the president saying Donald Trump has really sort of changed the equation for young Americans and Democratic Americans or those who identify as Democrats, while he really hasn't changed the equation when it comes to Republicans whose pride levels have actually remained fairly steady over the same period.

U.S. olympic skier Hunter Hess is defending his right to speak out.

In a post on Instagram, he writes, I love my country, and

adds, there is so much that is great about America, but

there are always things that could be better.

One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out.

The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and

when so many of us are divided, we need that more than ever.

I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete.

He was responding to a public rebuke from President Trump this weekend after saying this on Friday at the Winter Games in Milan.

It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US Right now.

There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and

Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.

so, yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.

Well, the president criticized him in a post on Truth Social.

Quote, US Olympic skier Hunter Hess, a real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics.

If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team, and

Other US Olympians are also speaking out, including snowboarder Chloe Kim and skier Chris Lillis, who says he's heartbroken about the raids by ICE and the protests that they've sparked.

I love the USA and I think I would never want to represent a different country in the Olympics.

With that being said, I think that as a country we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and making sure that we're treating our citizens as well as Anybody with love and respect.

I'm really proud to represent the United States.

The US has given my family and I so much opportunity.

But I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions on what's going on.

And I think that we need to lead with love and, and

compassion, and I would love to see some more of that.

A couple people said, answered questions about what was happening in the US And Minnesota.

For some reason, Hunter Hess is bearing the brunt of the criticism from the president.

Can you talk about how, why this is playing out the way it is?

Well, there's sort of been a long standing convention that when a politician, remember, the US Is sort of in, in the foreign sphere, you kind of present it united, no airing the dirty laundry.

But like, you know, we're also in an era where everyone in the world can see footage of what's happening in the U.S.

i mean, think about how we view footage of protests happening in other countries.

And so for US Athletes, for them to not address those concerns.

And keep in mind, we're basically a 50, 50 country, right?

The rest of the world sees the administration, they think this is official US Policy, but

about half the country does not want to be associated.

There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of.

I've heard more intense things, but here's Byron Donald's response.

If that's too hard for you, then go home.