A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll has found that core American values on patriotism, religion, and family no longer hold the same level of importance they once did for many of the respondents.
The survey, funded by the WSJ and conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, also revealed that the nation is divided on education and social issues such as the use of gender-neutral pronouns.
“Some 38% of respondents said patriotism was very important to them, and 39% said religion was very important. That was down sharply from when the Journal first asked the question in 1998, when 70% deemed patriotism to be very important, and 62% said so of religion,” reported the WSJ.
The WSJ continued, “The share of Americans who say that having children, involvement in their community and hard work are very important values has also fallen. Tolerance for others, deemed very important by 80% of Americans as recently as four years ago, has fallen to 58% since then.”
However, as with many polls, the reporting of results can be misleading. The WSJ reported the facts of the survey results, but when the positive answers of “very important” and “somewhat important” categories are combined, those results reveal a different story.
When respondents were asked about American values and how important each of the below-listed values were to them, they responded that these values were important as follows:
- Patriotism: 70 percent
- Hard work: 94 percent
- Tolerance for others: 90 percent
- Marriage: 70 percent
- Self-fulfillment: 91 percent
- Community involvement: 80 percent
- Belief in God: 65 percent
- Religion: 60 percent
- Having children: 65 percent
Using the same combined method in reporting the poll results for all the questions asked did lead to eye-opening response totals. Regarding the economy-related questions, it is apparent that the respondents are concerned about their financial situation.
- 80 percent stated that the nation’s economy is in poor condition.
- 38 percent think the economy will remain the same.
- 47 percent think the economy will get worse.
- 39 percent feel that their financial situation will remain the same.
- 39 percent feel that their financial situation will get worse.
- 60 percent claim they are dealing with some level of financial strain.
- 95 percent are concerned about inflation
- 75 percent are concerned about housing costs
- 81 percent are concerned about healthcare/prescriptions costs
The responses above and the overall concern for the future was reaffirmed when 78 percent of respondents stated that they do not feel confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than it has been for them.
The poll also showed that a majority of Americans are not in favor of President Biden’s “woke” agenda, as 63 percent stated that companies should not take public stands on social and political issues. Not surprisingly, two to one of the respondents answered they were unfavorable toward using gender identity pronouns “he/him, she/her, or they/them,” in email, social-media communication, conversations, and when addressing people. One third responded as neither favorable nor unfavorable to gender-pronoun use.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reacted to the WSJ poll this week sharing his concern over Americans declining core values and lack of patriotism.
The Washington Examiner reported:
“To think to this day that people don’t honor the patriotism of a sacrifice that these men and women have provided to bring this freedom,” McCarthy told Jesse Watters Primetime. “This is shocking to me, but I watch every day in Congress the attack on America.”
“Why can’t we be proud of America? America is more than a country. Americans is an idea,” McCarthy said. “There is no other nation in the world that is conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that we are all equal. We’re not perfect, but we strive to be a more perfect union. We have to change this course. And this is why I will never give up because I know tomorrow will always be better because of America.”
McCarthy is correct, and the WSJ-NORC poll does show that America is a country of changing values. But the results show a growing resistance to all things woke, and that resistance must survive and grow to keep the idea of America alive in the minds and hearts of Americans for generations to come.
American founding father Samuel Adams said it best: “It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
