Both Democrats and Republicans Say Country Is Losing Its Identity

Democrats and Republicans may see eye to eye on just what America���s identity is, but on this they can agree: she���s on the road to losing it.

As reported by a variety of news outlets, including the East Oregonian, a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that 70 percent of Americans are of the opinion that the nation is losing whatever identity one imagines it to actually have.

The disagreement as to just what that identity is falls, unsurprisingly, along party lines.

Generally, Democrats are more inclined to see such issues as diversity and receptiveness to immigrants as key elements of what defines the American identity.

Conversely, Republicans are more likely to see America���s identity as rooted in its strong Christian heritage, as well as in values representative of the Europeans who settled the land.

This is not to say that Americans do not share any common ideas when it comes to what comprises said identity. The survey did reveal that, regardless of on what side of the political dividing line we sit, Americans see the rule of law, Constitutional rights, and the opportunity for economic uplift as essential to what defines the culture of the nation. However, there are starkly-different viewpoints on the importance of other considered features.

For example, with regard to global cultures, roughly 65 percent of Democrats said that component is either ���extremely��� or ���very��� important to the country���s identity, while just 35 percent of Republicans feel the same way. As for the significance of Christianity to America���s identity, only 29 percent of Democrats believe that to be important, whereas 57 percent of Republicans see it as being so.

For many Democrats, the recent election of Donald Trump as president is a sign that many of the values ��� like the importance of remaining open and highly accessible to immigrants ��� they see as being linchpins of America���s identity are under attack. By the same token, the perception on the part of many Republicans that Christianity and a respect for Christian values are being increasingly marginalized is a sign to them that America���s identity is in the midst of evaporating.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large