3 takeaways from our new poll: From the Politics Desk

From the Politics Desk3 takeaways from our new poll: From the Politics DeskPlus, Trump keeps throwing wrenches in the GOP’s agenda. Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleKornacki: American pride at an ‘all-time low’ driven by ‘massive’ partisan divide04:17Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 15, 2026, 5:30 PM EDTBy The Politics DeskWelcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.In today’s edition, Scott Bland breaks down the key trends to know from our new poll. Plus, Sahil Kapur examines how President Donald Trump keeps introducing new hurdles for his party’s agenda on Capitol Hill. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.— Adam WollnerAmerica at 250: 3 takeaways from our latest poll Analysis by Scott Bland The new NBC News poll released over the weekend was a little different than our usual editions: Instead of digging deep into the latest news and events in politics, we zoomed out in this survey — which was sponsored by More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy — and asked people how they feel about core questions around national identity and national institutions ahead of America’s 250th birthday. Here are three main things we found:Deep pessimism about the direction and institutions of the U.S. Belief in the American Dream, key institutions and national pride were all on the decline in this survey, as Jonathan Allen writes. The share of people calling themselves “extremely” proud to be American dropped from the high 60s and low 70s in the post-9/11 era to 33% in this poll, with negative and ambivalent feelings growing. And institutions of all stripes are suffering: Even the military, which still earns greater confidence...