American patriotism is at 28 percent, study shows
 

[July 03, 2015]  By Tori Richards | Watchdog.org
 
While Americans show their patriotism this weekend by flying Old Glory and watching fireworks, only 28 percent of the nation thinks the United States is the best place in the world to live, according to recent study.

And with Virginia, Washington and Colorado leading the list of the most patriotic states, the worst of the bunch is New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, the personal financial website WalletHub found in its analysis.

The patriotism rate shows a 10 percent decline from 2011, the year Osama bin Laden was killed and the space shuttle Atlantis landed, concluding America’s shuttle program.

The study was formulated from several areas weighted in areas of importance that include numbers of enlisted, active, and retired military; civic education requirements, rates of volunteerism, voting habits, Peace Corps involvement and number of web searches for the American flag.

“It looks like Republicans and young people make up for the biggest drop in feeling that America is better than any other country,” said WalletHub’s analyst, Jill Gonzalez. “Given that 2012 was another Democratic win for presidential office, specifically one that Republicans had spent four years arguing against, that could sum up the main reason for that segment drop. Young people, on the other hand, probably had things like student loan debt, unemployment rates and an uncertain war going on for the entirety of their adult lives backing up their feelings.”

Some other interesting findings:

Georgia had the highest number of military enlistees at three times the number of North Dakota, which was last place. Runners up for best and worst are South Carolina and Minnesota, respectively.
When it comes to retiring, our veterans think the West is the best. The highest numbers of retired veterans per capita are Alaska and Montana, double the lowest numbers of New York and New Jersey.
Twenty-three times more Peace Corps volunteers are in Vermont and Washington than the worst states, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The highest percentage of voters in the past presidential election are not surprisingly Minnesota and Wisconsin, double that of Arizona and Alaska as the worst.
Utah and Wisconsin have the highest volunteerism with Louisiana and New York the lowest at three times the difference.
Princeton University politics professor Stephen Macedo said several factors have led to the decline in patriotism.

“I would say the financial downturn played a very large role,” he said. “And during this period, the great unfolding disastrous aftermath of our Iraq invasion has played out. In a lot of ways, it’s surprising its only 10 percent.”