Rise in Generational Identity, Republican Embrace of “Christian Values,” Anxiety About the American Dream
The University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll has tracked public opinion changes in how Americans prioritize different aspects of their identity over time, fielding regular national polls and issuing several reports on the findings. In 2026, we also probed how Americans prioritize their values and how these may be related to their prioritized identities. Relatedly, we continued to probe the degree to which Americans want to defend human rights and democracy internationally and how these issues may be related to notions of identity. And we indirectly probed the extent to which belief in the “American Dream” is rising or declining, especially among young Americans, to discern any connection of this issue to shifting notions of identity.
