American Identity
20 June 2022
Polling Firm: YouGov
Sample Size: n=2,500 US Citizens (nationally representative)
Fieldwork Dates: May 17-June 3, 2022
Margin of Error: +/- 2.0 for US avg.
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The recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday presents a new opportunity to reflect on lessons of the past and weave more Americans’ histories into our shared identity. This survey is the first of three fielded in 2022 to explore associations with American identity, figures and events in American history, connections to national holidays, aspirations for our shared future, and more.
Key Takeaways
- There is wide recognition of division, including around U.S. history.
- Overall, 77% of Americans say the country feels divided today, and they are almost 20 times more likely to say that the United States is “very divided” (56%) than that it is “very unified” (3%).
- Today, Juneteenth has low significance to most, except among Black Americans.
- As America approaches the second year that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, the occasion holds significance to relatively few. Juneteenth holds comparable significance to Columbus Day, and far less than MLK Day, 4th of July, or Thanksgiving.
- However, Americans agree on principles for teaching and dealing with the past.
- Americans say it is important for students to be taught the history of their own racial backgrounds as well as of Americans of different races. This consensus extends to recognizing the importance of teaching “the history of racism in America”. Meanwhile there is little appetite for shielding students from US history’s uglier chapters. Most agree that “Books with content that may offend people should not be removed from schools or libraries, but rather left for students to grapple with.”
In January 2022, More in Common launched an online community of approximately 400 Americans titled “Americans in Conversation”. We engage them in an online survey platform. From May 31-June 6, 2022, we asked Americans about their views on Juneteenth. A total of N=271 US participants completed the activity, with participants roughly representative across US Census demographics such as age, gender, race, and partisanship.
34%
of Americans feel that Juneteenth is significant to them personally, far lower than the significance associated with Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Memorial Day and July 4.
72%
of Black Americans rate Juneteenth as important, and Democrats and younger Americans expressed high levels of warmth too. Republicans and older Americans, in contrast, expressed lower warmth toward the holiday.
77%
of Americans say the country feels either “somewhat” or “very divided” today.
Overview
This survey is the first of three fielded in 2022 to explore associations with American identity, figures and events in American history, connections to national holidays, aspirations for our shared future, and more. The attitudes captured in the data show significant divisions around interpretation of U.S. history and a wide spectrum of strength of attachment to American identity. However, between the points of polarization we see meaningful commonality in seeing the United States with nuance and humility, indicating the potential for American identity to help transcend conflict between groups and bridge lines of political division.
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