Americans say founders would give grim 250th report card: poll

Back in 2001, most Americans thought the Founding Fathers would be pleased with how our country turned out.

• Today, fewer than one in five agree, according to a recent poll.

Why it matters: Few things unite Americans in its 250th year like their shared conviction — across party, age, race and income — that the country has let its founders down.

By the numbers: More than three in four Americans (77%) say the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the United States we see today, the highest level of disappointment Gallup has ever seen.

• Just 19% say the founders would be pleased, down from 27% in 2013.

Between the lines: Republicans (25%) are more likely than Democrats (13%) and Independents (21%) to say the founding fathers would be pleased.

• But in the 2026 and 2013 readings, the partisan gap flipped depending on who holds the White House: In 2013, with former President Obama in office, 42% of Democrats thought the founders would give a thumbs up, vs. just 12% of Republicans.
• Both the 2013 and 2026 sentiments were drearier than they were in 2003 and earlier, across political ideologies.

Yes, but: On the sunnier side, Americans still largely think the country has succeeded at least a fair amount in achieving the ideals for which it was founded.

• 20% say the country has succeeded a great deal, while 49% say it's progressed a fair amount.
• But that's still a smaller share than when Gallup first asked the question in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. Then, 77% said the country had succeeded a fair amount or great deal.
• The youngest age group polled (those 18 to 34) were less likely (8%) than their oldest peers (24%) to say the country has succeeded a great deal.

The bottom line: At the turn of the century and in the aftermath of the rallying effect of the 9/11 attacks, Americans were far more likely than they are in the nation's semiquincentennial to say the founders would applaud the country their vision grew into.

• But despite that discontent at this point in time, Americans still see progress when reflecting on the founders' ideals.

Methodology: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted by ReconMR May 1-17 with a random sample of 1,001 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and D.C. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Go deeper: America approaches 250 with its best days in doubt