An interesting poll from Gallup; reading it, I was reminded of Marco Rubio’s successful Senate bid in Florida, and how the theme of American exceptionalism seemed to drive a deep emotional connection between the candidate and audiences…
Americans widely agree that the United States has a unique character because of its history and Constitution that sets it apart from other nations as the greatest in the world. This view, commonly referred to as “U.S. exceptionalism,” is shared by at least 73% of Americans in all party groups, including 91% of Republicans.
Gallup’s chart indicates 73 percent of Democrats feel this way, 77 percent of independents.
At the same time that Americans believe the U.S. is exceptional, they also are inclined to believe that status is far from secure, according to the Dec. 10-12 USA Today/Gallup poll. Three-quarters of those who believe the U.S. is exceptional (62% of all Americans) also believe the U.S. is currently at risk of losing its unique character.
On the whole, Americans, by 58% to 37%, believe Obama thinks the U.S. is exceptional, consistent with what he and his advisers maintain. But Americans are less likely to believe Obama holds this view than they are to think the same about Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
Fascinatingly, 9 percent of Americans think Ronald Reagan did not think the U.S. is exceptional, suggesting that, at minimum, 9 percent of Americans pay no attention to anything and thus should be ignored.
Americans who identify as Republicans, likely reflecting the opinions of some of their party’s leaders, are especially dubious that Obama regards the U.S. as exceptional. Thirty-four percent of Republicans believe the president thinks the United States is the greatest country in the world, while 61% believe he does not. Democrats are much more confident that Obama regards the United States as exceptional, while the majority of independents agree.
The independent split is interesting: 57 percent of independents think that Obama regards the U.S. as exceptional, but 38 percent don’t think that.
Well it's no wonder that Republicans and some independents think that Obama doesn't believe in American Exceptionalism when they constantly take his words on the subject out of context on purpose to make it sound like he doesn't. It happens all the time here in NR.
Here's his whole quote that the GOP likes to cut up to make it sound like he doesn't believe in American Exceptionalism.
"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I’m enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don’t think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an Alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.
And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional.
Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we’ve got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we’re not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise and that includes us.
And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships because we create partnerships because we can’t solve these problems alone."
Sounds pretty cut and dried to me
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy guess is that the 9% is the baseline of people who so hate Reagan and Republicans that they are willing to attribute to him anything that sounds negative or insulting. However, that doesn't change the conclusion that those 9% should be ignored
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePresident Obama sees himself as exceptional though. And he thinks if he gets his way he will make us all exceptional.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYeah, I guess when a president thinks that the 'special relationship' between the US and UK is the same level 'special' as the relation the US has with every other country, your and his definition of 'exceptional' probably is not the same as how the term is normally used.
I do love the following paragraph:
"And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional."
Given that Obama is enacting changes to cripple our economy, disarm our military (START and budget), changing core set of values to something similar to what the Europeans have (The government gives you privileges at its pleasure.), disregarding Constitution in all fields, allowing corruption and intimidation into our democratic processes (Hello New Black Panthers!), enfringing on our right of free speech (Net Neutrality, anyone?) - at the same time he has made a hash of relationships with other nations that (The fact that other nations openly laughed at him in Seoul not that long ago is not a good sign.). He is exceptional, alright, just not in the way you think. And the US increasingly is becoming 'exceptional', except this 'exceptional' is nothing to be proud of.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAmerican exceptionalism means we can solve these problems alone, without partners. Agree or disagree, but don't redefine the term.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo matter the question, you will always get 10% of the people to believe in idiocies. Moon landing was fake, Reagan was anti-America, fluroide in the water is a govt conspiracy. Global warming is real.
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