Gen Z is more optimistic than Boomers, but less attached to America, poll finds
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- Elon University Poll finds Generation Z more optimistic than other generations.
- Seventy-one percent of respondents prefer smaller, local America250 commemorations.
- Sixty‑nine percent of respondents say the Declaration signers would feel disappointment.
A new national poll shows how Americans feel about our country as we approach the United States’ 250th birthday.
Elon University Poll results show an optimism among younger Americans and pride in being American across generations, even though those polled think the nation’s founders would be disappointed.
Read on to see how results break down on what Americans think — about the best president, how to celebrate America’s 250th and the U.S. living up to its ideals.
Optimism of Generation Z, those younger than 30
“What I think surprised me most, if I could just point to one single thing, would be the relative optimism of Generation Z,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll and political science and public policy professor at Elon University.
“Consistently, those under 30, so that’s Gen Z, were more optimistic than any other generation. However, they were also the least attached to America as a concept,” Husser said in an interview with The News & Observer, which is first to report the poll’s findings released Tuesday.
Husser said one example was Gen Z’s answers to the question about being proud to be an American. That resulted in 40% of them saying it was very true, compared to over 50% of those older than age 46, he said.
“When it came to things like ... ‘Is there any other country on earth you’d rather live in than the United States today?’ 41% of those under 30 said yes, compared to 27% of boomers, or people older than boomers.”
But the poll found optimism in young people’s answers about the future, like their standard of living over the next 50 years.
“Even though Gen Z, in some ways the most economically vulnerable entering the workforce right now, 63% thought it was going to be a better standard of living, compared to 37% of Gen X.”
Pessimism among Baby Boomers
“We saw more pessimism among Baby Boomers, which is interesting, because many of those are Republicans, and generally we found Republicans were more enthusiastic about America 250 itself,” Husser said.
“Generally, we’re seeing the increase in this poll, young people being more positive about what’s going on in the future, but we don’t necessarily see that in America250 itself,” he said.
Results by age to the question: “When you think about the United States turning 250 years old, which of the following best describes how you feel?”, the most common responses across ages were “proud” and “grateful,” but slightly higher among boomers. He said that younger generations who responded said “they don’t have necessarily the same attachment to the United States as an institution that we’re seeing with older folks,” Husser said.
Here’s a broader look at major questions asked in the poll. All the results below include all ages.
What and who’s celebrating America250
Half of respondents were not very likely or not at all likely to participate in an America250 event.
“Which type of America 250 commemoration would feel more authentic to you?”
- 71% said “smaller, local events” over “larger, national events.”
- 50% of respondents were not very likely or not at all likely to participate in an America250 event.
In North Carolina alone, there are more than 700 America250 events this year, both large and small. Elon Poll is located in Alamance County in North Carolina. Elon Poll developed the survey, which was then completed by the international marketing and polling firm YouGov. It was an online survey with a +/- 3.95% margin of error, taken between April 30 and May 4 with a final dataset of 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 and older.
“Should America 250 be more about celebration of the nation’s achievements or more about reflection on our history and values?”
- 32% said it should be a “celebration of the nation’s achievements,” while
- 68% said it should be a “reflection on history and values.”
Events living up to America’s ‘highest ideals’ include Civil Rights and World War II
“In what single event did American democracy best live up to its highest ideals?”
- 16% said civil rights
- 11% said World War II
- 8% said ending slavery
- Everything else was 5% or less of respondents to the open-ended question.
Husser said he used artificial intelligence at first to sort the 1,000 responses, then did it by hand for better accuracy and read each one.
“The civil rights one was, I think, important,” Husser said. ”It’s worth noting that the majority of those open-ended responses were referring to the 1960s Civil Rights movement, oftentimes something related to Martin Luther King himself, but some small number of them referred to the women’s suffrage movement. But they were in the context of basically expanding voting rights, so I put them in the same category,” Husser said.
He said that those polled described ending slavery in various ways including abolition, the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth.
Top 5 people who ‘exemplify American democracy’s highest ideals’
“Thinking of all the public figures over the last 250 years, which single individual person best exemplifies American democracy’s highest ideals?”
- Abraham Lincoln ranked first on this open-ended question, receiving 20%.
- Barack Obama, who was the first Black president, 11%.
- George Washington, the first U.S. president, 9%.
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader, 9%.
- President Donald Trump: 7%.
Founders disappointed in us?
“If the signers of the Declaration of Independence looked at modern American democracy, would they feel more pride or more disappointment in the United States?”
- More pride: 31%,
- More disappointment: 69%
Top 5 best U.S. presidents ever
“Who has been the best President in United States history?”
- Abraham Lincoln: 26%,
- Barack Obama: 17%,
- George Washington: 12%,
- Donald Trump: 11%, and
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: 9%
Presidential quotes
Without being told which president said it, those polled most approved of the quote:
“Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all,” which had 49% “strongly agree” with what Washington said.
Their second most approved quotes, with 47% who “strongly agree,” was from Lincoln: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
Presidential quotes from Trump, Obama, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did not receive the same support.
As far as what people think about current politicians:
“Would you say U.S. elected officials over the last 10 years have been better, worse or about the same as leaders in the past?”
- 68% chose worse
Pride and desire to stay here
More than half of people are proud to be Americans.
“How true or untrue is this statement about you personally? ‘I am proud to be an American.’”
- Very true: 48%,
- Somewhat true: 20%
And most are content to stay in the ole US of A:
“Is there any other country on Earth you would rather live in than the United States today?”
- Yes: 35%
- No: 65%
Their top choice if they left is just north of us, in Canada, which got 19% support.
What Americans think about the future
People were also polled about what they think life will be like in 50 years, when America turns 300.
Husser said poll results broken down by political party show “Republicans are much more enthusiastic about the future. Sixty-two percent of Republicans think that standard of living will increase, (while) 37% of Democrats agree with that. I imagine that would split if there was a different president in the White House, the same way we see trust in government invert every time that there’s a change over in the presidency.”
On a poll question about the standard of living in 50 years, “there was basically no difference between people with a college degree and without a college degree,” Husser said, but there was a difference by income, with people making more than $100,000 a year more optimistic about standards of living in the future than those who make less than $50,000 a year.
Elon Poll releases its full poll results, including demographics breakdown, on Tuesday.
How the poll questions were chosen by Elon Poll
Husser, the Elon Poll director, said it was “challenging to write the questions because we’re trying to tap something beyond current events of the day. We were trying to assess America’s broader feelings about this moment in history.”
“We went into it knowing that many people’s perceptions would be colored in large part by their evaluation of Donald Trump, but we wanted to tap something deeper than that, and so that’s why we ended up focusing on these more fundamental questions, like the American dream, American exceptionalism, the notions of unity, health of democracy, as well as outlooks on the future over the next 50 years,” he said.
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Gen Z is more optimistic than Boomers, but less attached to America, poll finds."
