According to troubling survey from The Wall Street Journal, Americans are gradually losing the values that made America what it is. Patriotism, religion, having children, and community involvement were “very important” once. No longer.
One caveat: This is based on a survey conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago. It’s one survey, and we can’t speak to their reliability. It’s concerning, nonetheless. In many ways, it’s not surprising. You can almost use the survey to track the changes in the media from far more neutral to activist.
The polling tracked the national sentiment over the past 25 years on various topics. The following is the percentage of Americans deemed “very important” in 1998 and today.
- Patriotism: 70% in 1998 vs. 38% today.
- Religion: 62% in 1998 vs. 39% today.
- Having kids: 59% in 1998 vs. 30% today.
- Community involvement: 47% in 1998 vs. 27% today.
Fortunately, some people don’t like the gender-neutral pronouns.
“Half of people in the survey said they didn’t like the practice of being asked to use gender-neutral pronouns when addressing another person, compared with 18% who viewed it favorably. Some 30% under age 35 viewed the practice favorably, compared with 9% of seniors.”
Will that change too?
The WSJ reports:
A number of events have shaken and in some ways fractured the nation since the Journal first asked about unifying values, among them the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent economic downturn and the rise of former President Donald Trump.
They care about money.
The only priority the Journal tested that has grown in importance in the past quarter-century is money, which was cited as very important by 43% in the new survey, up from 31% in 1998.
Aside from money, all age groups, including seniors, attached far less importance to these priorities and values than when pollsters asked about them in 1998 and 2019. But younger Americans in particular place low importance on these values, many of which were central to the lives of their parents.
…
Some 23% of adults under age 30 said in the new survey that patriotism was very important to them personally, compared with 59% of seniors ages 65 or older. Some 31% of younger respondents said that religion was very important to them, compared with 55% among seniors.
It’s so sad. All these immigrants pouring in are coming for something that no longer exists if this poll is accurate.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
