71 percent of Americans think the founders would be disappointed with the U.S. Poll: Founders wouldn't be pleased

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would be ashamed of the country today.

At least, that’s what a recent poll shows a majority of Americans think.


Seventy-one percent of Americans think the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the United States has turned out, a Gallup survey released Thursday shows.

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Despite a high 85 percent of Americans saying they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, 71 percent say the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed in today’s United States, while 27 percent say they would be pleased.

It’s a sharp drop from the high in 2001 when 54 percent of Americans said the signers would be pleased.

Older Americans, those living in the Midwest, conservatives and Republicans are relatively less likely to say the signers would be pleased than their counterparts, the survey says.

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Those in the South are slightly more likely than those in the East and West to say they are proud to be Americans. Conservatives and Republicans are also slightly more likely to say they are proud to be Americans than liberals and Democrats.

The results of the survey correlate with American’s current level of negativity toward their government, including the record-low level of confidence Americans have in Congress.

The poll was conducted by telephone June 1 to 4 and June 20 to 24, with random samples of 1,529 and 2,048 adults, respectively with a maximum margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points.

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