Debating the Decline of American Values

A new opinion survey from the Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago has set off a debate over the state of our national character. The poll suggests patriotism is fading in America, with a drop of nearly 30 points in the number of Americans who say patriotism is very important to them.

One pollster has pushed back on these findings, arguing that a shift in methodology threw off this year's results. Phone surveys, he says, generate a higher degree of social desirability bias than their online counterparts. The 2023 survey—conducted online—reflects more honest responses.

That's fine as far as hypotheses go, but it's unproven. Yes, American values evolve, but probably not so sharply in a four-year period. That's why this issue begs for deeper research. Has the notion of patriotism been co-opted by right-wing extremists, as one survey respondent argued in a follow-up interview? Are we witnessing a semantic evolution, with our society understanding these words differently than it did in the past?

There's also the issue of a global pandemic. The world has changed since the last time this survey was conducted. We need to examine those broader changes before we decide whether divergent research findings reflect methodological differences or changes at the heart of our national character.