Gen Z is abandoning patriotism for the wrong reasons | Opinion
America's 250th birthday is rapidly approaching, and while this is the most patriotic time of the year for many, fewer and fewer people are sharing in that feeling.
Americans on average have become less patriotic in recent years, with stark generational divides. My Gen Z comprises the least patriotic Americans alive. Young people no longer believe that America is exceptional, but this general sentiment is sorely mistaken.
Patriotism has fallen out of fashion for young people because of America's past injustices. That's backward ‒ the progress we've made in overcoming those injustices is the best reason to celebrate this country, not resent it.
Patriotism shouldn't be out of fashion
When I describe myself as patriotic, I mean that I love America and believe it is a great country. I believe in our Constitution and its underlying structure, and I view both as a force for good at home and abroad.
That doesn't require defending everything the current president does, or every action this country has taken in the past.
According to Gallup polling, only 41% of Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, identifies as being extremely or very proud to be an American, compared with 75% of baby boomers, born 1946-64, and 71% of Generation X, spanning 1965 to 1980. Even millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, dwarf my generation, coming in at 58%.
The instant reaction may be to chalk this disparity up to my generation's significant slant toward the Democrats, who have long been less patriotic, particularly when a Republican holds the White House. But that doesn't tell the full story.
Just 24% of Gen Z Democrats identify as being among the most patriotic, while the average Democrat comes in at 36%. Even young Republicans are less patriotic, with just 65% expressing very or extremely patriotic views ‒ no other generation of Republicans has dipped below 87%.
Young people I speak to across the political spectrum are uncomfortable offering full-throated defenses of America because of our past and present missteps. That's precisely why I've always been so eager to defend America as a whole.
The United States is such a great country in my eyes because it has been able to move past the horrible things that happened here. Overcoming slavery, internment camps, Jim Crow and other awful violations of our own people's rights didn't happen in spite of the U.S. Constitution ‒ it happened because that document produced the framework to fully realize the rights of all, in time.
Our sins are testaments to our progress, not indictments
Despite the guarantee that "all men are created equal," one glaring exception during the founding era and beyond was Black Americans, who were subjected to unspeakable treatment. Many in my generation see that as an indictment of the country as a whole ‒ not just its founding but everything that's followed.
I take a different view.
The realization of those founding promises is cause to celebrate, because they happened by working within our system. The full rights of Black Americans were eventually guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, which became the vehicle to eliminate school segregation, strike down state bans on interracial marriage and secure many more rights since.
The 14th Amendment itself only came about because of the amendment process the Constitution provides ‒ a vehicle for social progress to become enacted change. That wasn't the end point, but these accomplishments were made by working within our constitutional structure, not by tearing it down.
We can mourn that it took so long. But the fact that our country moved beyond such injustices without the dissolution of our Republic is a testament to the Constitution's durability.
Social progress was necessary to reach these moments of change, but the Constitution provided the vehicle through which Americans could enact it. Young people should be celebrating our growth as a country, not resenting America for her mistakes.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gen Z is abandoning patriotism for the wrong reasons | Opinion
Reporting by Dace Potas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 5:08 AM.