What value do you think the country needs most today?
It is admittedly somewhat of an odd question, but the results from a recently published Gallup poll asking it are striking.
“Honesty” was the top vote-getter at 34%, followed by “responsibility” at 32%, and “integrity” at 31%. These are all fine choices, and the country would be a better place if we all lived them more.
But the most telling differences came in the partisan breakdowns.
For Democrats, the top three values the country most needs today were “equality” at 44%, “fairness” at 34%, and the aforementioned honesty at 32%.
But for Republicans, the top answer by far was “patriotism” at 46%, followed by the aforementioned responsibility, 41%, and honesty, 38%. Just 6% of Democrats chose patriotism as the value our nation most needed.
And this Gallup poll was not an outlier. In June, Gallup found that just 27% of Democrats were extremely or very proud to be American, compared with 93% of Republicans. The following month, Ipsos found that only 20% of Democrats believed America was great, compared with 64% of Republicans. And a Cygnal poll released in August 2025 found that just 31% of Democrats believed America remained a force for good in the world, while 61% disagreed. Among Republicans, 86% considered America a force for good.
This lack of faith in the American project shows up in more places in the ballot box. It also manifests at the altar and in the maternity ward.
Democrats are substantially less likely than Republicans to be married. A 2024 Gallup analysis found that among adults ages 30-50, 67% of Republicans were married, compared with just under half of Democrats. This difference reflects more than delayed weddings: 26% of Democrats in that age group had never married, compared with just 12% of Republicans. Nor can the divide be explained away by differences in age, education, race, or religious practice. Even after accounting for those factors, Gallup found a significant Republican marriage advantage.
The divide extends to having children. A June Institute for Family Studies report, comparing ideological rather than party identification, found that 51% of liberals ages 18-54 had no children, compared with 40% of conservatives. Conservatives averaged 1.4 children, compared with 1.09 for liberals, and the difference remained statistically significant after accounting for age, income, education, religion, and marital status, among other factors. Liberals also wanted smaller families: Their ideal was 2.16 children, compared with 2.71 for conservatives. The Left’s retreat from family formation involves both fewer children and a diminished desire to have them.
Perhaps these divides share a common source. Having children requires some measure of faith that the world we leave them will be worth inhabiting and that the inheritance we pass down will be worth preserving. People who see their country as a force for good have a reason to raise another generation to carry its work forward. Those who see little to celebrate in its past or admire in its present may feel less inclined to invest personally in its future.
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These differences are most pronounced in the youngest generation. A 2025 Harvard Youth poll of 18-29-year-olds found that while 76% of young Republicans say they are proud to be American, just 24% of young Democrats felt the same way.
If Democrats want their party to have a future, they might start by giving their youngest members a reason to believe their country deserves one.