SW News: A new Wall Street Journal (WSJ)-National Opinion Research Centre (NORC) poll reveals that Americans are placing less value on things like patriotism, religious beliefs, having children, and other priorities that have helped shape the national character for years.

The survey, which was conducted in collaboration with the University of Chicago's nonpartisan research center NORC, revealed that the country is also deeply divided by political parties when it comes to social trends like the drive for racial diversity in the workplace and the use of gender-neutral pronouns.
The poll showed that only 39% of Americans rank their religious beliefs as a top priority. That is a decrease from 62% in 1998.

A difference between age groups and those who prioritize religious beliefs is revealed by the poll. Religion is vital to only 31% of those under the age of 30, compared to 55% of those who are 65 and over. The importance of community, having children, and patriotism are all viewed less favorably nowadays. One value that has been more significant over the past 25 years, according to the study, is the love of money. The proportion of Americans who now believe in money has increased from 31% to 43%.

The percentage of Americans who believe that having children, being active in their community, and working hard are values that are highly important has likewise decreased. Until four years ago, 80% of Americans said that tolerance for others was essential. Since then, that percentage has dropped to 58%.

Apart from money, all age groups, including seniors, gave these aims and values significantly less weight than they did in 1998 and 2019 when pollsters questioned them. Although many of these ideals were important to their parents' lives, younger Americans, in particular, give them little weight.

The survey also revealed a clear partisan divide among respondents who valued patriotism, with 23% of Democrats citing it as "very essential" as opposed to 59% of Republicans. Just 29% of those surveyed who identified as independent said they personally valued patriotism highly.