New American University Poll Examines How Young Americans View Democracy, Community, and Their Civic Role

American University's Sine Institute of Policy and Politics has released the fifth installment of its annual poll on young Americans, finding that respondents aged 18 to 34 express strong pride in the country's history and firm belief in diversity and community values, even as most describe the nation's current state using words like "broken," "divided," and "polarized." The poll found that while 57% of young Americans report feeling proud to be American, nearly half say they lack a strong sense of belonging despite a clear desire to build stronger community ties, revealing a gap between national identity and lived civic connection. Conducted in partnership with the Close Up Foundation and Future Caucus and shaped in part by a 19-student advisory group, the survey offers a data-grounded look at how young people define their generation's civic role and participation. The findings give NCDD's network concrete evidence of the tension between disconnection and desired belonging that dialogue and deliberation work is designed to address, particularly among a generation navigating the country's 250th anniversary.

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American University's Sine Institute of Policy and Politics has released new national polling data examining how young Americans, ages 18 to 34, view the country's history, its current state, and their own generation's civic role. The fifth survey in the institute's annual series found a striking split in sentiment: while a majority of respondents describe themselves as patriotic and proud of the country's past, most chose words such as "broken," "divided," "polarized," and "chaotic" to characterize the nation as it stands in 2026. That split held even as pride varied notably across gender lines, with men more likely than women to describe themselves as both patriotic and proud. The survey was conducted in late July 2026 by Generation Lab in partnership with the Close Up Foundation and Future Caucus, and an advisory group of 19 American University graduate and undergraduate students helped shape the survey's questions and methodology.
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Perhaps the poll's most consequential finding for the dialogue and deliberation field is the gap it reveals between civic pride and civic connection. Nearly half of respondents reported lacking a strong sense of belonging, even as they expressed a clear desire to build stronger ties within their communities. Sine Institute executive director Amy K. Dacey framed the poll as an effort to let young Americans define their own generation's experience and aspirations on their own terms, rather than filtering their views through outside assumptions. This distinction between wanting connection and not yet feeling it echoes a challenge dialogue and deliberation practitioners encounter regularly: that a desire for community does not automatically translate into a sense of belonging without deliberate, structured opportunities to build it.

For NCDD's network, this polling offers a timely, evidence-based snapshot of the civic terrain facing a generation coming of age around the country's 250th anniversary. The gap between young Americans' stated values, including pride in diversity and community, and their present assessment of a fractured nation underscores the ongoing need for structured spaces where people can build genuine belonging rather than simply expressing shared ideals. Readers interested in exploring the full poll results can find the complete findings and methodology at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/young-americans-value-core-freedoms-but-view-todays-nation-as-fractured-302866828.html.