Young Americans don’t like America much.
A new survey by Pew Research Center asked 9,895 people a series of questions about America. Most Americans polled agreed that the United States “stands above all other countries” (24%) or that it is “one of the greatest countries, along with some others” (55%).
More than one-fifth (21%), though, said “there are other countries that are better than the U.S.”
And that number soared when the survey group was limited to young liberal Americans, aged 19-29. In that age group, 47% of Democrat and Democrat-leaning people preferred other countries over the U.S, while just 19% of Republicans within the same age group agreed. The poll also showed that 36% of this age group say other countries are greater than the U.S.
Age differences in these views are evident within both partisan coalitions but are particularly wide among Democrats. Nearly half (47%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents under 30 say there are other countries that are better than the U.S., as do roughly a third (34%) of those ages 30 to 49. By comparison, just 20% of Democrats ages 50 and older say this.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 19% of adults under 30 say there are other countries that are superior to the U.S. In contrast, just 4% of Republicans 50 and older take this view.
The percentage of Democrats agreeing that there are other countries better than America is “higher than at any point since the question was first asked by Pew Research Center in 2011.”
“Views of how the U.S. compares with other countries have long been divided along partisan lines,” Pew wrote in its poll findings. “But these differences have widened in recent years as Democrats have become more likely to say there are other countries that are better than the U.S. In telephone surveys, the share of Democrats saying this is higher than at any point since the question was first asked by Pew Research Center in 2011, and there has been a corresponding decline in the share saying the U.S. stands above other nations.”
The survey was conducted as part of a larger study about partisanship as “the dividing line in the American public’s political attitudes,” Pew said.
Younger Americans also have no problem with other nations becoming as powerful as America. “A narrow majority (55%) of Democrats under age 30 say it would be acceptable if other nations became as militarily powerful as the U.S., while Democrats ages 30 to 49 are divided on this question. Democrats 50 and older are more likely to say policies should try to keep it so the U.S. remains militarily superior than to say it would be acceptable for another country to gain similar military strength (57% vs. 39%),” Pew reported.
The findings come as Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is rising in the 2020 polls. He is supported by another Democratic socialist, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). They are part and parcel of a group of other U.S. critics, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Trump 2020 campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called them out over the summer.
“Look at these congresswomen, and by the way he never listed out who he was talking about we can guess who a few of them are, but look at the anti-Semitic remarks that have been made by Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib and AOC,” McEnany said on Fox News Radio’s “Todd Starnes Show.”
“Comparing our border facilities to concentration camps. And Ilhan Omar pleading for an ISIS member to get a lesser sentence. He was planning to travel over to Syria and in that document, she just completely ripped apart the United States. Time after time we see these anti-American remarks,” McEnany said.
President Trump caused a firestorm in July when he said the lawmakers should “go back” to where they came from and called on them to apologize, alleging they “hate” America.
“If someone doesn’t like our country, if someone doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave,” he said.