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Nine in 10 Americans can name either a recent news event or something about American politics that made them angry, while only half could identify a recent news event or something about American politics that made them proud, according to the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll.

It was conducted with 997 American adults from Jan. 11-17.

In addition, when asked how angry or proud whatever they had identified made them feel, 46 percent of respondents said they felt “extremely angry,” more than double the percentage who indicated feeling “extremely proud.”

Most Americans can identify something in politics or the news that makes them angry

Half of respondents were asked: “What is there about American politics today that makes you feel angry?” The other half were asked: “What has recently been in the news that makes you feel angry?”

Responses to the two questions were similar and, in both cases, wide ranging.

What has recently been in the news that makes you feel angry?

Taken all together, the most common set of responses mentioned President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump or their respective political coalitions, adding up to nearly one quarter of all responses. This included:

Other common points of anger? One in five mentioned a domestic issue or policy, including immigration or border control (mentioned by 5 percent of respondents), the economy (3 percent) and crime (2 percent). 

An additional 12 percent of respondents mentioned a violation of democratic principles, including partisan division (6 percent), corruption (3 percent) and dishonesty (2 percent).

What is there about American politics today that makes you feel angry?

Half cannot name something that makes them proud

Half of respondents were asked: “What is there about American politics today that makes you feel proud?” The other half were asked: “What has recently been in the news that makes you feel proud?”

Responses to the two questions were similar. Taken together, nearly half came up empty: 44 percent indicated “nothing” made them proud and another 3 percent indicated “don’t know.”

Half of all respondents could identify something in the news or politics that made them proud, naming a wide variety of topics.

“Principles of democracy” was the most common category of things people mentioned as inspiring pride (10 percent overall). This category included mentions of democracy itself (6 percent of all responses) as well as freedom (3 percent) and, much less often, unity.

What is there about American politics today that makes you feel proud?

Taken together, nearly as many mentioned Biden, Trump or their respective political coalitions:

Next most common were mentions of domestic issues and policies, noted by 7 percent. This category was led by mentions of the economy (2 percent).

What has recently been in the news that makes you feel proud?

In this poll the question of what in the news or about American politics made respondents either proud or angry was followed by another asking: “how proud (or angry) does that make you feel?”

By any measure, Americans are angry. Only 10 percent answered “nothing made me angry.” Nearly half, 46 percent, indicated they were “extremely angry.”

Unlike most polling results reported in recent years, this is a case where members of the two major political parties poll nearly identically: Similar proportions of Republicans and Democrats feel extremely angry (50 percent and 45 percent) and virtually identical proportions feel extremely proud (24 percent and 25 percent). Of course, as noted earlier, the kinds of things that make each either angry or proud are quite different.

The most striking difference in levels of anger among the demographic groups that we looked at is between the generations. Younger generations are somewhat prouder than older generations, and older generations are notably angrier than younger. Fifty-seven percent of Baby Boomers say they are “extremely angry,” compared to 48 percent of Generation X, 38 percent of Millennials and 32 percent of Generation Z.

Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy

Detailed results of the survey findings, along with survey methodology and transparency disclosures, are available here.

Craig Helmstetter

Author

Eric Plutzer

Nine in 10 Americans can name either a recent news event or something about American politics that made them angry, while only half could identify a recent news event or something about American politics that made them proud, according to the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll.


Mood of the Nation: Angry

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