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 The dignitaries present were celebrating a military victory by
the U.S. Navy off the Barbary Coast. The first toast that night paid homage to a
poem penned two years earlier in Baltimore celebrating another naval battle:
“The Star-Spangled Banner – Long may it wave/ O’er the land of the free/ And the
home of the brave.” As the wine flowed freely, the hero of the hour – “the
Conqueror of the Barbary Pirates,” the newspapers called him – arose to give his
toast: “Our country,” said Commodore Stephen Decatur. “In her intercourse with
foreign nations may she always be in the right, and always successful, right or
wrong.”
Widely reprinted at the time, Decatur’s conditional hope that America would
occupy the moral high ground was eventually distilled to the more jingoistic “My
country, right or wrong!” That is one notion of patriotism. There are many
others. Defining love of country has long been a sensitive topic, and in the
highly polarized current political environment it has a distinctly partisan
cast. Patriotism is also understood differently along racial and gender lines.
Today it exists upon stark generational fault lines as well.
In the period between Juneteenth and July 4, RealClear Opinion Research delved
into these waters. Specifically, the survey of 1,762 registered voters was
conducted June 21-24. Its findings are instructive for the leaders of America’s
two dominant political parties, as well as for any citizen concerned about where
this nation is heading.
For starters, fully 85% of Americans consider themselves patriotic. Demosthenes
would have approved, but what that implies in word and deed varies greatly. As
such, we don’t all feel the same way. One example: 57% of male voters in this
country consider themselves “very patriotic,” compared to 43% of women. The
overall number of whites who describe themselves as very patriotic is
significantly higher (58%) than for African Americans (37%), Hispanics (36%), or
(Asian Americans 28%). Republicans (68%) are much more willing to describe
themselves this way than Democrats or independents, both of whom are around 40%.
For Republicans who watch Fox News, this number is even higher (74% for Fox News
Republicans compared to 58% of other Republicans). There is an income gap in
professed patriotism, too, although little difference by education levels among
whites. Yet the survey also revealed that in the past year a vast majority of
voters are engaged in a range of activities that most Americans consider
expressions of their patriotism – and that with some of these, there is little
partisan difference. These range from wearing a mask to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 (91%) to voting in national elections (88%).
Two-thirds of respondents said during the previous year they had thanked a
veteran or member of the U.S. armed forces for their service and two-thirds also
received their COVID vaccine. And while there are partisan breakdowns in those
responses (more Republicans paid their respects to veterans while more Democrats
got their shots) the more interesting finding is that Americans recognize a wide
array of measures as patriotic. And they do so even for gestures they themselves
do not take. For instance, only 48% of voters flew an American flag last year,
but 76% acknowledge that flying the flag is patriotic. Likewise, while only 34%
said they participated in community service last year, 63% consider volunteering
an expression of love of country.
“The modern interpretation of patriotism is as diverse as the country the flag
represents,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling for RealClear Opinion
Research. “It is not owned by one party or platform. We found that at least
three in four members of every major subgroup of American voters professes love
for their country – and tens of millions of Democrats, Republicans and
independent voters are regularly engaged in activities that exhibit their
respect for the country and for those who sacrifice to serve and make it
better.”
Della Volpe, who also directs polling for Harvard University’s Institute of
Politics, has delved deeply into Americans’ views of themselves and their own
political system for RealClearPolitics since his October 2018 poll revealed the
existence of five distinct political “tribes.”
That survey, done near the halfway point of the Trump presidency, is in some
ways a bookend to the current study. In that first poll, respondents were
queried about their feelings regarding a series of images ranging from U.S.
Marines in combat and an American flag on the side of a barn to photographs of
an interracial couple and black football players kneeling during “The
Star-Spangled Banner.”
A similar method was employed in this latest survey: Respondents were shown a
series of 17 images (13 of scenes from American life and four of specific
politicians) and asked to rank how much that image represented “what is right
about America.” With only three exceptions, there were double-digit differences
between Republicans and Democrats. This is understandable when it came to
political figures such as Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But it’s somewhat
disconcerting to learn that 53% of Republicans think a photo of Yom Kippur
worshipers expresses something good about America, while only 44% of Democrats
feel the same way. When it came to an image of a Christian church, the gap was
even more glaring – much more so. Three-fourths of Republicans reacted
positively to the church picture, while only 44% of Democrats did so. (For
independents it was 53%).
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Other dichotomies included a photo depicting U.S. military personnel doing
global humanitarian work (78% Republicans, 59% Democrats, 63% independents). Or
a simple photo of the U.S. flag on a barn (80% Republicans, 52% Democrats, 58%
independents.) To put it simply, judging by traditional measures of patriotism,
Republicans score higher. But the modern Democratic Party is younger, more
female, more ethnically diverse, and more attuned to the values and priorities
of the LGBT movement. This emerging Democratic majority ranked a picture of a
swearing-in ceremony for new immigrants higher than Republicans (46%-34%) as
well as for a Chinese New Year Parade, which Democrats approved by a 2-to-1
margin over Republicans. Only 37% of Democrats view a depiction of Wall Street
in favorable patriotic terms, compared to 52% of Republicans.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to be an issue that divides us. Fully 72% of
Democrats ranked a depiction of a COVID vaccine as pro-American – much higher
than either Republicans or independents. One of the largest gaps was for a
picture of a Black Lives Matter protest march honoring George Floyd: 46% of
Democrats approved of this image, while only 16% of Republicans did so. Given
the rhetoric among political elites and in the mainstream media, this 46% figure
seems low. Likewise, despite the media attention given to transexual rights,
only 33% of Democrats responded positively to an image of a transgender flag –
not too much higher than Republicans (29%) and independents (27%).
For those who value lowering the temperature on discussions about the meaning of
patriotism, the best news out of the section of the poll dealing with images was
that only 14% of Americans thought a picture of the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S.
Capitol was a positive – including fewer than one in five Republicans.
The Prism of Race
Another intriguing finding concerned voters’ reactions to critical race theory.
Although this subject has galvanized conservative media and Republican
politicians, the public apparently is far less convinced that it constitutes a
threat to national cohesiveness.
For one thing, a majority of Americans don’t know much about CRT – and, for that
matter, are unfamiliar with the New York Times’ controversial 1619 Project and
the concept of American Exceptionalism. Only 43% of voters expressed familiarity
with critical race theory, a number that didn’t vary much by age or race –
although suburbanites and college-educated respondents knew more about it than
rural voters or those without college degrees. (Not surprisingly, given the
amount of airtime it has received, Republicans who watch Fox News are much more
likely than Republicans who do not regularly watch Fox to know about CRT.)
Yet most respondents did not tend to recoil from the term in disgust. When asked
whether they support CRT or not – without any background information provided –
42% expressed support, compared to 36% in opposition, with 22% expressing no
opinion. When it was defined for them in the survey, the backing for the concept
actually rose.
Progressives will feel good about those numbers. But conservatives can cheer
themselves with this thought: As Independence Day approaches, the RealClear
Opinion Research survey also shows that American Exceptionalism is alive and
well in the hearts of most voters. Nine out of 10 respondents believe that the
United States continues to do a lot of good in the world. And while only 32% of
voters today assert – as almost all of the Greatest Generation believed – that
“America is exceptional, it is the moral leader of the world,” only 10% agree
with the statement “America does more harm than good in the world.”
In other words, we do good, but we should aspire to do better. This is really
what Commodore Decatur was saying in Norfolk 205 years ago. And it’s what U.S.
Sen. Carl Schurz said more directly while paraphrasing and improving upon
Decatur’s toast in 1873 during a fiery Senate debate. Sen. Schurz was Prussian
immigrant whom Wisconsin Sen. Matthew Carpenter accused, in so many words, of
putting foreign interests ahead of our own during a legislative fight over
selling surplus weapons to France. You see, even back then we argued about
patriotism — not to mention the issues of immigration, arm sales, and gun
control. But Schurz had been a friend of Abraham Lincoln, an ardent
abolitionist, and an early Republican who made political speeches (often in
German) to turn out immigrant voters for Lincoln. He’d also served in the Union
Army with distinction during the Civil War, commanding troops at Second Bull
Run, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg – and he spoke English as well as he did
German.
He responded to Sen. Carpenter that he would match his record of service to
America with anyone before adding this: “The senator from Wisconsin cannot
frighten me by exclaiming, ‘My country, right or wrong.’ In one sense I say so
too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country,
right or wrong: if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for
RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.
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