‘A deep and boiling anger’: NBC/WSJ poll finds a pessimistic America despite current economic satisfaction

The political and cultural upheaval of the last four years has divided the country on ever-hardening partisan and generational lines, but one feeling unites Americans as much as it did before the 2016 election. They’re still angry. And still unsettled about the future. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll […] Read more »

Once Trump Talked About ‘American Carnage.’ Now He Says Critics Should Leave.

America stinks. At least that’s what Donald J. Trump seemed to be saying before becoming president. He did not believe in “American exceptionalism,” he said, because America was not exceptional. Instead, it was a “laughingstock” that was no better than Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia. By promising to make America great […] Read more »

It’s not just Trump. Many whites view people of color as less American.

President Trump is facing a strong backlash for telling four progressive Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to where they “originally came from.” … As I noted in an earlier Monkey Cage post, within the social-science literature on intergroup relations, Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto’s theory of social dominance argues that […] Read more »

There are many ways to be patriotic

… Penn State’s Mood of the Nation Poll took a unique measure of Americans patriotism. Rather than assume a certain definition of patriotism, we let each citizen to tell us what patriotism means to them. The results of the poll show that many of our traditional symbols and ideals of […] Read more »

Surprised by those Fourth of July tanks? Here’s what political science can tell us about nationalism, patriotism and public opinion.

… As the United States celebrates Independence Day with fireworks, flags and armored tanks, here’s what you should know about nationalism, patriotism and foreign policy attitudes. … Some people use the word patriotism as shorthand for “love of country” — a subjective feeling of inclusion in a national group that […] Read more »