An Examination of Three Different Opinions of American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism in its classical sense was defined as the United States being inherently different, however in more recent years it has been redefined to mean that the US is superior to other nations. I am going to examine three different opinions at different levels including public opinion (both domestic and foreign) through polls, family opinion through interview, and my own opinion on the matter. For the public opinion segment, I am going to focus on domestic polling with demographics and general foreign polling. Polls on this subject are actually not plentiful and thus the results were limited. In polls conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2011 and 2014, the consensus seems that America is a great nation, but not the "greatest."

The 2014 poll indicated dimming views in comparison to the 2011 poll. A mere 28% of Americans believed that the US was the greatest nation, 58% called it a great nation, and 12% going so far as to say there were greater nations. This differing greatly from the 38-53-8 spread line gathered in 2011 (Tyson, 2014). Numbers were divided greatly among partisan and demographic lines. 37% of Republicans called the US the greatest while just 25% of Democrats agreed. Age showed another stark contrast in opinions with 40% of people aged 65 and older calling the United States the greatest, while just 15% of millenials believed the same. The reason for why America was great also differed greatly among partisan lines. When asked whether America's "ability to change" or "reliance on principles" made it great, conservatives and liberals could not see eye to eye. Moderate to far right conservatives by a 75-21% margin said that "reliance on principles" was what made the country great. Moderate to far left liberals by a 73-25% margin said oppositely that "ability to change" was the factor in making the nation great.

Moderates on both sides agreed by a slight margin that "ability to change" was the more accurate statement. I am going to note that for foreign countries, no polling was found addressing American exceptionalism, but considerable polling has been done on views toward America and thus that is what will be discussed. In a 2015 Pew research poll, America's global image was viewed positively by a 69- 24% margin (Wyke, 2015). Africa held very strong favorable views towards the United States. The Middle East and Russia held openly hostile views towards the US. Asia, South America, and Europe held mixed though generally favorable attitudes. While youth attitudes domestically have been negative compared to older groups, youth in foreign nations view the US much more favorably on average that their older counterparts averaging 19%. The second group of attitudes I chose to examine was my families. My family is very diverse in age, attitudes, and experiences making them a great subject for this interview. My father is an air force veteran, 1/3 French, and is a moderate conservative who has voted Republican throughout his life. His take was that the United States is great, but not as good as it once was because of social programs that have bankrupted it. My mom is 1/3 Japanese, has worked in the medical field for 30 years, and while much less political has voted Republican when she has voted. She still believes that the United States is the greatest nation citing that it provides more opportunity and overall freedom than any other country. My first of two younger brothers is 15, a self proclaimed racist, and defines himself as mainly conservative.

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The second of the two is 13, apolitical, and enjoys sports and video games. Both of my brother held opinions that the US was not the best country, with the 15 year old stating Germany was reemerging as the lead power and the 13 year old stating either China or Japan because of their emerging economies. Finally, being the co-author of this question for our previous project, I of course h my own opinion on the topic. I define as a moderate liberal and very politically involved, although very hawkish on national defense issues. I believe that America is a great nation, but to call it the best is an inj ustice to the many people who waited for their rights for so long after other countries had granted them. France and Britain abolished slavery nearly 50 years before the United States ("Chronology- Who Banned Slavery When," 2007). New Zealand gave women the right to vote nearly 25 years before the US (Villani, Hilaire, & Provost, 2011). Complete uninhibited voting rights for African Americans took as much as 150 years longer for the US to procure ("Universal Suftrage," n.d.). Women's right to choose was granted nearly 40 years after the first European nation ("Abortion Laws Worldwide," n.d.). Even into today, same-sex marriage was legalized 14 years after the first nation ("International Freedom to Marry," n.d.). Our constitution provides equal protection and that makes us great, but until freedoms are actively enforced without question, we can only be great and not the best.

The results that I was able to compile and analyze showed a similar trend whether by personal experience or outside polls. Inside the U.S., an increasing number of people regardless of political view are turning away from the belief that the nation is number one, though many still believe it is a great nation. In the video portion of the project, many cited freedoms as why America was the best, yet the upholding or lack thereof of those freedoms was a big reason why many including myself thought otherwise. While views were similar among the pols, interviews, and my own opinion conflict over whether our past actions or current leaders are the cause of our standing still divide us.

References

1. Abortion Laws Worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2015, fromhttp://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/460/abortion-laws-worldwide
2. Chronology- Who banned slavery when? (2007, March 22). Retrieved September 27, 2015, fromhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2007/03/22/uk-slavery-idUSL1561464920070322International | Freedom to Marry. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2015, fromhttp://www.freedomtomarry.org/landscape/entry/c/international
3. Tyson, A. (2014, July 2). Most Americans think the U.S. is great, but fewer say it's the greatest.Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/02/most-americans-think-the-u-S-is-great-but-fewer-say-its-the-greatest/
4. Universal Suffrage. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/universal_suffrage
5. Villani, L., Hilaire, E., & Provost, C. (2011, July 6). A Timeline of Women's Right to Vote. Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/interactive/2011/jul/06/un-women-vote-timeline-interactive
6. Wyke, R. (2015, June 23). 1. America's Global Image. Retrieved September 27, 2015, fromhttp://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/

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