Americans place more importance now on money than patriotism, faith and children trends now
Americans place far less importance on traditional values like patriotism, religious faith and having children than they did 25 years ago, a poll reveals.
Only 38 percent say patriotism is very important to them, compared with 70 percent in 1998. The proportion who think religion is very important has fallen from 62 percent to 39 percent, the poll found. Having children is very important to just 30 percent of people in the USA today, compared to 59 percent in the 1998 survey.
Instead, more Americans now say money is a top priority, placing it above the values that shaped the country, the survey suggests.
The staggering shift in views across a single generation is coupled with deep divisions along party lines around the country's approach to progressive issues.
The poll, conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago, ultimately points to a nation that is 'down about everything', one analyst said.
The poll, conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago, ultimately points to a nation that is 'down about everything', one analyst said
Overall, Americans give less priority to traditional values like religion, patriotism and having children. The proportion who say money is 'very important' has increased since 1998
Pollster Bill McInturff, who worked on a previous version of the survey, said 'these differences are so dramatic, it paints a new and surprising portrait of a changing America'.
'Perhaps the toll of our political division, Covid and the lowest economic confidence in decades is having a startling effect on our core values,' he said.
Since 1998, America has been through 9/11 and the war on terror, a global financial crisis in 2008, and has an increasingly polarized political landscape, marked by the election on Donald
