The US is marking a big birthday but polls say the 'mood is sour'

As the US turns 250 this July 4, who is still proud to be an American? Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 5:06am If you ever attend an event where Donald Trump is speaking, there's a country song you'll almost certainly have to listen to. God Bless the USA, a hit for Lee Greenwood back in 1984, has become the president's pre-speech hype tune. It's now also getting plenty of play at events marking the United States' 250th birthday, which falls this July 4. The song has a repeated lyric that's notorious for ear-worming into one's brain: I'm proud to be an American. But polls measuring the national mood have reinforced how a large chunk of America now struggles to identify with those words. Stacy Nichols, a new grandmother from Michigan, says she's "absolutely not" feeling proud to be an American. Asked how she's feeling instead, she offers: "Pissed off, angry, enraged." Those descriptors sum up the vibe at the event where we're speaking. It's a festival-like rally in a Washington DC park, featuring singing, dancing and a Native American drum performance alongside anti-Trump protest speeches. Activist groups planned the day to counter the "exclusionary narrative from the MAGA regime surrounding America's 250th anniversary", which they believe is being pushed at the official Trump-backed events, including the "Great State Fair" nearby on the National Mall. Stacy, a dental nurse, says her anger's been fuelled by seeing patients who are enduring the worst of America's cruel treatment in their daily lives. She gives examples like an elderly man who can't afford his medication and a woman whose husband was seized by immigration agents. She travelled to Washington with homemade placards, including one that displays her reasons for coming: "I need to be able to tell my grandchildren I did not stay silent." Trump takeover Plans to celebrate the US's 250th birthday have been in train since 2016, when Congress established a bipartisan organising committee called "America250". But Trump replaced that group with a new one, appointing himself as its chair, and Vice-President JD Vance as its vice-chair. He called it "Freedom 250". Its centrepiece event is the fair on the National Mall, featuring a ferris wheel, rodeo demonstrations and tourism-expo-type displays for all 50 states. "This 'Freedom 250' that Trump does, it is a celebration of fascism," says Cindy Luiz at the park rally. "This is a fascist government, and it has outsize effect on the people of the world. "You only have to look at Venezuela and Iran to see that, and the possibilities that they could trigger things rashly that lead to world war." The big problems predate Trump, she says. "My own view is that this country has been an exploitative, oppressive country from the days of slavery." Muarib Abdul-Tawwab travelled to the rally via an 18-hour bus trip with a group of young activists from Mississippi. "I think that it's important that history shows that we came down here because we thought what was going on here was important and we had something to say," he says. In his opinion, "America has never been great." "It's never been a great country. It's constantly going on a downward spiral. It's people that can't afford to eat, it's not fair education for everybody, there's not affordable housing for everybody — and these are just the modern problems." MAGA pride Patriotism is easier to find at the Trump-backed state fair, but the event has also been controversial since its inception. Most of the booked musicians cancelled their appearances, complaining the fair was much more partisan than they had been led to believe. Since it opened, video footage of visibly thin crowds has been going viral. But Trump has used social media to insist it has been "packed with happy people". One of them is Lisa Jox, a recently retired government worker from Pennsylvania. "There's so many things America can be most proud of," she says. "We're the first one to come help anyone in the world. "Right after that earthquake that just happened in Venezuela, we're down there helping. And we help everybody around the world when they need our help." Like most of the people who stop to speak to the ABC here, Lisa's a Trump supporter. "Do I love everything about our leadership? No," she says. "But there's no other place in the world I'd rather be. And we are more than the face of our politics." Angie Williams, a nurse from Virginia, says she often avoids talking about politics because it too quickly leads to a fight. "Most of the time I would be reluctant, but I'm definitely right-wing, I'm definitely MAGA, I love what Donald Trump has done for our country," she says. "Getting illegals out is big to me. Getting the drugs out of our country, getting faith back in our country. I feel like that's big — a president that openly supports the bible." Sue Miller, also from Virginia, says the founding fathers' vision for the US has "gone a little astray, but I think we're getting it back". "There's a little resurgence going on," she says. But away from the celebration, broader opinion is bleaker. Pew Research, using its well-regarded polls as a basis, assessed the "American public's mood is sour" ahead of the big birthday. Just 29 per cent of respondents to one recent poll said they were satisfied with the way things were going in the US today. 'Even the founding fathers never agreed' Unsurprisingly, a person's politics play a major role in how they feel about the country's trajectory, and whether they personally feel a sense of national pride. In a poll published by NPR this week, 93 per cent of Republicans said they were proud to be an American. For Democrats, the figure fell to 45 per cent. Respondents without a stated political bent were in between, on 61 per cent. Non-Republicans were not easy to find at the state fair. But Louise Fenner, who lives a few blocks away, showed up to make a point. "I'm a liberal Democrat and I came because I want everyone to … come to this, not just conservatives or Republicans," she says. "There really aren't as many people as I would like to see here." The Pew polling found most Americans believe the country's stark social divisions are continuing to widen. Among both Republicans and Democrats, about two-thirds of respondents expected the US to be more politically divided in 2050. Thirty-seven per cent of respondents in the NPR poll agreed that violence may be needed to get the country back on track. "I think the division is getting worse thanks to the current administration," Louise says. But reflecting on the prior 250 years, she adds: "We all probably think this is unprecedented, but my god, we had a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. And so I think we're going to get through this, and after this, we're going to have a better future and more unity." A Pew report last month said there were signs of "enduring optimism" among its unhappier poll results. Forty-eight per cent said they were optimistic about the future of the country overall. John Hess, who works in the horse-racing industry in Maryland, believes the current divisions are no different from those the US has weathered since its formation. "It's always been the same," he says. "Since day one, even the founding fathers never agreed fully on how to handle things. It's still the same way. So, we'll get by."