Howe

Since 1998, the WSJ has asked Americans to rank the values central to their lives. And according to the most recent results (March 2023), many of America’s once-honored values have plunged in importance. 

In 1998, a large share of Americans said that patriotism (70%), religion (62%), having children (59%), and community engagement (47%) were “very important” to their lives. In 2023, those shares are significantly smaller: Patriotism has fallen -32 percentage points to 38%; religion -23 pp to 39%; having children -29 pp to 30%; community engagement -20 pp to 27%; and tolerance -22 pp (since 2019) to 58%. The only priority that has risen in value is money: +12 pp to 43%.     

Keep in mind that this survey does not ask respondents what they intrinsically find most worthy or desirable. Rather, it asks what values are currently important in their lives. And clearly, as evidenced by their growing pessimism (See "Americans' Pessimism Soars") most Americans are not happy about how their life priorities have changed.

In the civic realm, Americans see polarization rising and conclude that patriotism, religion, community, and tolerance just aren't viable or available options for them right now. In the economic realm, a rising share of young adults feel they can't afford to start a family and pressured to earn as much as they can--hence the swifter post-pandemic recovery in jobs than in births. Interestingly, money is the only value that Democrats and Republicans consider equally important (45%). 

These results largely match other surveys we have covered. Patriotism is at an all-time low. (See “Patriotism Dips to a New Low.”) Religious attendance continues to decrease. (See “Religious Attendance Trending ‘All or Nothing.’”) And births are on the decline, mostly because young adults are delaying having kids rather than any appreciable drop in the number of kids they want. (See “Births Keep Falling, But Americans Still Want the Same Number of Kids.”) 

But this WSJ poll does deepen our understanding of age differences: Young adults are significantly less likely to say they adhere to traditional values than older Americans. For example, 23% of those ages 18-29 say patriotism is “very important” to them, while 59% of those ages 65+ say the same thing. That’s a difference of 36 percentage points. There are also significant though smaller gaps when it comes to religion (24 pp) and hard work (14 pp).

We don't know whether these age gaps have grown over time, since the WSJ-NORC surveyors do not reveal any age-crosstabs for past years. But these gaps don't look a lot bigger than what we would have expected twenty or forty years ago. What has clearly and dramatically changed over the past two decades, among all age brackets, is the shrinking and narrowing of national aspirations.

Many Americans don't feel they can do much for their country or their community--perhaps because they no longer feel that they belong to a common country or a common community. Few regard money as a replacement for what has been lost. Most young adults, in fact, look for employment that offers stability and security rather than a chance to get rich. (See "'Stable' Is the Watchword.") Money is simply all that's left over.