iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Spelledw1n @spelledw1n.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy 9th anniversary of people who claim to cherish the Declaration of Independence getting extremely angry when they encountered its text in the wild. PRRI poll: Competing Visions of America at 250: Politics, Religion, and American Identity prri.org/research/com...

Table titled:Percent who believe the following characteristics are either very or somewhat important to being truly American. A red circle is around the item, Believing in the Declaration of Independence which polled as important for 88% of All Americans, 96% of Republicans, 90% of Independents, and 90% of Democrats.

When asked about how important the following traits are to being “truly American,” most Americans say that believing in individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech (93%), believing in the Constitution (91%), accepting people of diverse racial and religious backgrounds (89%), believing in the Declaration of Independence (88%), respecting American political institutions and laws (88%), and being able to speak English (75%) are very or somewhat important.

Smaller majorities of Americans say believing in God (57%) and being born in America (54%) are very or somewhat important to being truly American. Americans are less likely to say that being a Christian (43%) or having ancestors who served in the military in previous wars, such as the world wars and the Civil War (42%), are important. Just 23% of Americans say that being of Western European heritage is important to being truly American.

With the exception of Western European heritage, where only one-third say this trait is important (33%), majorities of Republicans believe every other trait is important to being truly American. Conversely, fewer than half of Democrats say that being born in America (42%), believing in God (41%), having ancestors who served in the military in previous wars, such as the world wars and the Civil War (34%), and being a Christian (29%) are important to being truly American. Majorities of Democrats say all other traits are important. Though independents mirror all Americans very closely, they are 8 percentage points less likely to say believing in God (49% vs. 57%) or being Christian (35% vs. 43%) are very important to being truly American.

Spelledw1n@spelledw1n.bsky.social

Happy 8th anniversary to people getting PO'd at NPR because they didn't recognize or agree with the Declaration of Independence when it was tweeted out line by line. apnews.com/general-news...

apnews.com

NPR's Declaration of Independence tweetstorm confuses some

National Public Radio marked the Fourth of July by tweeting the entire Declaration of Independence, but it seems some Twitter users didn't recognize what they were reading.

000