21 Charts That Explain American Values Today

By Bob Cohn Jun 27 2012, 11:04 AM ET Americans say they are more tolerant and open-minded than their parents. Among the issues that rate more morally acceptable today than a decade ago: homosexuality, human cloning, premarital sex, and having a child out of wedlock. At the same time, half believe the economic system is unfair to middle- and working-class Americans, and only 17 percent believe Wall Street executives share fundamental American values. In all, two-thirds think the country is heading in the wrong direction, 69 percent believe the country's values have deteriorated since the 1970s, and nearly half say values will further weaken over the next 10 years. Such are the highlights of The Atlantic/Aspen Institute American Values Survey. Elsewhere on the site, pollster Mark Penn provides a full analysis of the survey, which was conducted by his firm, Penn Schoen Berland. Below, a brief summary in charts: Two-thirds of those surveyed say the country is heading in the wrong direction ...

... 7 in 10 say people's values have been getting worse in America ...

... and nearly half expect American values to weaken over the next decade.

Americans are split over whether their values are stronger or weaker than the rest of the world's ...

... while freedom of speech and freedom of religion are cited as the top examples of America's superior values compared to other places in the world.

The influence of religion on American life is decreasing.

11 percent of Americans don't believe in God ...

... half seldom or never attend church ...

... but religion is still important to half of all Americans.

Most Americans say they are more open and tolerant than their parents.

Two-thirds of Americans think the U.S. economy is on the wrong track ...

... and half think the economic system is unfair to middle- and working-class people.

6 in 10 Americans believe budget deficits undermine American values ...

... and more than half would raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses.

Only 17 percent think Wall Street executives share America's fundamental values ...

... and of those who say Wall Street values are different, 9 in 10 say they are worse.

7 in 10 believe elected officials reflect mainly the values of the wealthy ...

... and Americans are broadly united in their belief that money and lobbyists have too much influence in politics.

More than half do not expect their personal information to be private when they use social media ...

... though Americans are more worried about government knowing their personal lives than about about private companies.

Finally, more than three-quarters of Americans believe people are typically motivated by self-interest -- and just 20 percent believe them to be generally altruistic.

Americans Are Losing Confidence in the Nation but Still Believe in Themselves
By Mark Penn Jun 27 2012, 11:00 AM ET 13

A new poll on values shows that there's less faith in Washington, Wall Street, and even God. But Americans still think they can get anything they want through sheer hard work.

An American flag hangs in the doorway of a tornado-ravaged home in Henryville, Indiana. (Reuters)

America's values are in upheaval, triggered by the advance of technology, prolonged pessimism, and a loss of confidence in major social, political, economic, and religious institutions, according to a poll of more than 2,000 Americans commissioned by The Atlantic and The Aspen Institute for the Aspen Ideas Festival. The poll was conducted by Penn Schoen Berland between May 25 and June 6, 2012. While Americans have become far more socially tolerant of different lifestyles, they have become far more cynical about Wall Street, the ability to succeed on one's own merits, the future of their children, and even the existence of God, according to the poll.
America is in many ways unhappy with itself and the pop-culture it has become.

More than two thirds (69 percent) believe that American values have declined, and they point to political corruption, increased materialism, declining family values, and a celebrity-obsessed culture as the culprits. Religious freedom is named as a core value, and yet fewer Americans are embracing any religion. Overall, 89 percent of Americans now say that they believe in God, down from 98 percent in a 1967 Gallup poll. The youngest generation shows an even sharper decline to 81 percent, though people often become more religious after they have children or start a family. By all measures - from basic belief to weekly attendance -- religion and religious life are trending down in importance in American life. And while a huge proportion laments the decline of traditional family life, calling its loss damaging to society, most Americans -- and especially the young -- favor alternative lifestyles, from living together unmarried to having children out of wedlock and supporting divorce. And majorities of those 18 to 29 approve of unmarried men and women living together, have no issues with smoking marijuana or homosexuality, and classify themselves as pro-choice. The older generation, which has been rising as a proportion of the population, is far more conservative in outlook, expressing opposition to all of these social matters. But there are well-documented changes in social tolerance as well. The rise in overall acceptance of homosexuality is probably the biggest single change in social values in the last 30 years. Fiftythree percent say homosexuality is now morally acceptable, up from 38 percent in 2002. Narrow majorities oppose pornography and smoking marijuana, and huge majorities oppose cloning, underage drinking, other illegal drug use, and steroids. Forty-one percent find marijuana use acceptable, as compared to 11 percent for other illegal drug use. Americans strongly favor life support for as long as people want to be kept alive, even at government expense. Likewise, assisted suicide is seen as morally objectionable by 60 percent to 37 percent. One surprise comes in the area of guns. The public is split down the middle on the need for more gun safety laws, but 72 percent backed an absolute right to self-defense, even if that means using deadly force. Growing percentages oppose any outright bans on handgun ownership, with 64 percent in opposition, up from 51 percent in 1980, though there are doubts about concealed handguns. When it comes to personal liberty and freedom, the Americans in this poll reaffirm the basic tenets of the Bill of Rights. The core American values of freedom - particularly freedom of speech and freedom of religion -- are reaffirmed as nearly two-thirds say those are the values that put America in a stronger position than others in the world. Slightly fewer -- about half -- point to the free enterprise system, principles of equality, and our constitution as setting us apart. Some values are seen as less important - such as the importance of being a melting pot and of enabling upward mobility. Young people place equality as a value nearly as important as freedom of speech and religion, while the older generations placed equality after capitalism as a core value. The free enterprise system runs deep as a value for those 45 and older, but the younger two generations are far less rooted in that system.

When probed about their depth of belief in freedom of speech, most citizens were against allowing freedom for pornography, hate speech, and fighting words. They only extended the concept to voting, freedom of information, and, more narrowly, to advertising. Family, schools, and friends remain the source of and greatest reported influence on American values, underscoring the importance of policies that support working families and education reform. 41 percent of Americans say that family values are the most important in their life, followed most closely by moral values at 31 percent and religious values at 17 percent. By contrast, the impact of political and general cultural values is in the low single digits, although Americans frequently name Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Oprah, and Billy Graham* as the individuals most representative of American values. The focus on family values also highlights a tension in American life brought about by changing social and economic circumstances, and perhaps the simple passage of time. Most Americans view the decline of traditional families over the past few decades as negative, but also see raising kids in a dual wage-earning household as the new norm. In this new world, 39 percent of American parents want to spend more time with their children but half of them believe their children can grow up to be successful even if they spend a majority of their developmental years in day care or other children's services. However, it is men, not women, who are most likely to say that they are not getting adequate time with their children. Few younger people believe in mandatory military service, but there is general agreement that perhaps we should have some kind of national community service. Americans continue to put faith in education as the key to success. Seventy-six percent of parents responded that they are focused on their children's future success and believe that instilling values like dedication, hard work, and career preparation should be the primary goals of public schools. Americans are thus keenly aware of the impact of their values on future generations. More than 8 in 10 of Americans think public education is a central American value, one that that ensures opportunity and success for all Americans. But almost half of Americans give our schools as a whole a "C," highlighting a central problem we face. However, the most important challenge that we face as a nation stems from the crisis of our capitalist values. Most Americans believe that obsession with money and material things, the influence of money in politics, and political corruption are weakening national values. More than two-thirds of Americans think the U.S. economy is on the wrong track - a consistent opinion that has held across the last three years -- and 52 percent believe that the economy and jobs are the single most important issues facing the country. When compared with the next most important issues, deficit and government spending and healthcare -- both at just 6 percent -- the poll provides a clear picture of what the defining element of the 2012 election campaign will be. But concerns about the economy are not simply a matter of policy and direction. Half of Americans think the economic system is unfair to the middle and working classes. A majority of young Americans and 49 percent of the general population think wealthy Americans had more opportunities than others in achieving their financial success. Only 39 percent of Americans and 34 percent of our young - believe they worked harder than others to be successful. The view

that what is good for business is good for America is losing resonance with younger Americans (only 35 percent support this view), and among the general population only 4 out of 10 Americans agree with the statement. But these cynical answers seem to be part of a slowly creeping narrative underwritten by the media (which scored extremely low in the poll) about America being driven by wealth and unfairness over merit and accomplishment. But while Americans are cynical about the country, they have a better view of their own lives and communities. Americans rated their own schools a B while rating everyone else's a C. And while they say that working and middle class Americans have been hurt by the free enterprise system, most working class, middle class, and upper-middle class voters when asked about themselves, say that they have been helped more than hurt by our economic system. And 70 percent of Americans still believe they can get anything they want in America through sheer hard work. Americans say the system is broken, yet many still believe in it for themselves. Only 17 percent of Americans believe that Wall Street executives share the same fundamental values as other Americans, a point that all Democrats, Republicans, and Independents agree with overwhelmingly. They see the executives as Gordon Gekkos, driven by self and greed. Overall, 71 percent of Americans think more Wall Street executives should have gone to jail for their roles in the financial crisis. The crisis of confidence in the American financial and economic system is also reflected in our politics. Seven in 10 Americans believe that elected officials reflect mainly the values of the wealthy, not the values of middle- and working- class Americans, a finding that is consistent across all age groups. Regardless of party and affiliation Americans are united in their belief that money and lobbyists have too much influence in politics. Seventy-four percent of Americans, including 73 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of Republicans, agree with this statement. Furthermore, 8 in 10 Americans think there is too much money being spent on political campaigns, a finding consistent across all demographic sub-groups. Both Democrats and Republicans agree that there is too much money concentrated among a small number of groups and individuals being spent on political campaigns in America. Alexis De Tocqueville, once wrote that "America is great because she is good; if America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." The resilience of freedom, tolerance, free enterprise, and equality under the law in America demonstrate that the first principles laid out by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution have withstood the test of time. And today America is a far more open and tolerant place for minorities of all origins and orientations, and the country finds more consensus across many moral and ethical questions that many would believe. Republicans and Democrats are moving toward the same views on stem cell research, sex-education, and contraception, and they are slowing closing the gap on still divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality. But we have not been good keepers of our forefathers' promise, demonstrating weak leadership and a mishandled stewardship of our financial system and an economy that is threatening the fabric of America. In a wave of pessimism that has been pervasive throughout the last decade (perhaps the longest running in American history), Americans believe their country is heading in

the wrong direction, that our values are weathering, that their generation is worse off than their parents' generation, and that their children will be still worse off. Americans believe that political corruption, too much focus on material things, and the influence of money in politics are weakening our values and standing in the world. They believe elected officials reflect and represent mainly the values of the wealthy and think the economic system is unfair to middleand working-class Americans. And they believe that Wall Street is more like a cancer than an engine for economic growth. Despite all the self-criticism, America's values make sense for a socially maturing country. They have become more tolerant and more open when it comes to lifestyles while rejecting drugs and other easy fixes. They reaffirm the basic values of the Bill of Rights, but can see its limits. They expect more from their government and more from their economic leaders, and yet still see a future based on pulling themselves up. They are looking for a fairer society and more secure society and yet reaffirm the right to self-defense. They believe less in God and yet they see clear moral limits everywhere. Not surprisingly young people are diverging from their fathers and grandfathers with new attitudes that revolve less around competition and more around equality. It remains to be seen whether this is just another "rebellion at the university" and their views will change as they grow older -- or if we are witnessing permanent changes that will transform America.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly included the word posthumously after Billy Graham's name.

59% of Young People Say the Internet Is Shaping Who They Are
An opinion survey commissioned by The Atlantic finds telling differences among America's generations.
By Rebecca J. Rosen Jun 27 2012, 11:33 AM ET 16

JodyDigger/Flickr One thing that we often overlook as we try to understand how the Internet is remaking our world is just how recently it appeared in our lives. We have adopted new technologies with such remarkable speed and enthusiasm that they seem like they have been here much longer than they actually have. A few points of reference:

When the country elected Barack Obama just four years ago, Twitter was a fledgling startup. During the campaign, Obama overtook Kevin Rose as the most followed person on Twitter, passing him at 56,482 followers. Five years ago, according to Pew, less than half of Americans used email daily; less than a third used a search engine. YouTube was founded in 2005 and Facebook in 2004 -- and it would be a while after that until they became such integral parts of our day-to-day Internet experience. Today nearly half of Americans own a smartphone. The iPhone is five years old.

Our world has been remade in short order. We have no idea what this new technology will mean for our society. What are the effects of so many people being able to pursue their own obscure passions? What does it mean that 13,000 people can tune in live to watch the internal workings of a university's governing body? What will a generation of young people coming of age in the electric hive of Reddit do with themselves? There will be businesses, projects, organizations, ideas, and political movements that will come of this time that we cannot begin to anticipate. We are only at the very beginning. In the new survey, commissioned by The Atlantic and The Aspen Institute and conducted by Penn Schoen Berland and Associates, we can see some hints of what this early generation of Internet users looks like, vis-a-vis that very technology that they've grown up on, and also with regard to questions of values that cut to the core of what America will look like in the years ahead. Most younger people say that the Internet is shaping who they are. On a question that asked people to rank different sources of influence on their sense of right and wrong, 59 percent of people ages 18 to 29 said that social media or the Internet had a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of influence. Fascinatingly, 38 percent of Americans older than 65 said the same. Both statistics fill out the picture of a society just beginning to display the Internet's role in culture, with a generation it has substantially shaped rising into prominence. (Other interesting results from this question: older Americans see religious leaders as much greater influencers, and younger Americans are more likely to point to political satirists such as Jon Stewart, television, and movies. Both groups rank family and education at the top.) Of course, younger people are more shaped by the Internet because they use it more, and both a cause and an effect of this greater use is greater trust: Younger Americans express a greater expectation that the personal information they use on sites such as Facebook and Twitter will remain private. Slightly more than half of 18-to-29-year-olds said they held this expectation, whereas only 38 percent of Americans over 65 said the same. (Side note: What is wrong with these younger Americans? They must not read The Atlantic's technology coverage.) If you dig into the numbers a bit further the picture gets a little more complicated. Both groups say in equal number (47 percent) that they do not expect privacy. The difference comes from a large group of older Americans (14 percent) who say they don't know. So the two groups are equally distrusting, and older Americans just have less well-formed opinions, which makes sense given that they use these sites much less.

A similar pattern appears in response to a question about whether respondents approve or disapprove of tracking from websites: A far greater proportion of younger Americans approve of this behavior (40 percent) than older Americans (18 percent), but the percent who disapprove is similar (58 versus 62, respectively). Again the gap comes from a sizable chunk of the 65+ group who say they don't know (20 percent). Together the two questions seem to indicate that there is a baseline level of distrust online, and that it's possible that the greater trust younger people display is the result (and maybe cause) of greater familiarity with these services. Perhaps it is naive, but if you have been sharing your information freely with Facebook for a few years and nothing so bad has come of it, maybe Facebook has earned your trust -- regardless of what they are doing with your information to sell you personally targeted ads. Trust is not a static quantity. By using Facebook regularly, younger users may develop more trust for the site, which then leads them to use it more, resulting in a feedback loop that could partly explain the gap between the two groups -- and additionally explains why so few younger Americans say they don't know, while so many older Americans feel that way. The big question is whether these differences are a generational change or simply the result of pairing youth with these new technologies. That is to say, perhaps today's trusting youth will become tomorrow's distrusting parents. Moreover, it's unclear what optimal answers to these questions about trust and privacy would look like. Should we all have our guard up when sharing information online? Certainly. But a society too skeptical of the people and sites they interact with online and off is going to produce a pretty dull Internet. It's hard to imagine Craigslist working in a place with little general trust; it's even harder to imagine new ridesharing apps gaining any popularity. Some reasonable level of trust -- taking into account risk and making a calculated judgment -- is the secret sauce that makes the social web work. One thing that becomes evident throughout the survey is that when we try to compare older and younger Americans, the two sets aren't divided only by age but by values. This seems to be borne out in another question, which shows that both groups -- by a long shot -- trust private companies with their data more than they do the government, but older Americans are much more trusting of private companies. This is probably not the direct effect of a difference in age but of political affiliation: Younger Americans tend to lean Democrat and older ones tend to lean Republican. Republicans are much more distrusting of government, and that political divide carries over into the age breakdown.

The starkest generational divide appears not when it comes to the Internet but when it comes to moral values, and by and large younger Americans tend to be much more liberal and openminded than their older counterparts. They say in much greater numbers that homosexuality is "morally acceptable" (62 percent for those between 18 and 29 compared with 36 percent for those over 65), that interracial marriage is A-okay (87 percent versus 65 percent), and that unmarried men and women living together is not a problem (compare 76 percent with 45 percent). Now, the survey also showed that a huge numbers of Americans think that the country is heading in the wrong direction (63 percent), and that America's values have been getting worse (70 percent). But as hard as times may be, as scary as the rapid changes we are living through are, the tolerant picture the survey paints of the generation that has come up on the inchoate Internet is one very good reason to take heart.

Government of the Elderly, by the Elderly, and for the Elderly Shall Not Perish
By Derek Thompson Jun 27 2012, 11:55 AM ET 45

The American Values Poll from The Atlantic and Aspen Institute says most Americans want to spend more on the young. Meanwhile, we have built, renovated, and protected a government focused on protecting wealth rather than investing in it.

Reuters

At a time when education is absorbing huge cuts and Medicare and Social Security spending continue to grow faster than the size of government, it's a question worth asking: Is Washington biased toward old people? The easiest way to answer the question is: Of course it is. Older Americans show up disproportionately at the ballot box, in Congress (the average age of a senator is 63), and in our budget. Fifty percent of federal benefits flow to the 13 percent of the population over the age of 65, David Leonhardt reported in the New York Times last weekend. But Americans of every age group think that the federal budget should focus more on young people than old people, according to the American Values Poll, from The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute, which was released today. Asked if Washington should aim its spending toward the young, 73% of twentysomethings and a plurality of senior citizens said yes.

As the questions got more specific, a rift opened between younger and older generations. Twothirds of respondents between 18 and 29 said we should spend more on education and infrastructure. Less than half of Americans over 65 agreed. Older and younger Americans were also equally likely to say the economy is on the wrong track, but seniors were 33% more likely to say the solution is lower taxes for families and businesses. BOOMER v. BABY Beyond the broader points of agreement, the poll uncovered a dramatic generational gap between the youngest and oldest Americans. Most strikingly, their attitudes toward business and them middle class have diverged. People over 65 were 80% more likely to say that what's good for business is good for America and 70% more likely to say that the economy has been fair to the middle class. Meanwhile, the youngest Americans are three-times as likely to say that the economy is unfair to first-generation immigrants and twice as likely to say it's been unfair to them, personally. This could have something to do with the fact that the economy has, as a matter of statistical fact, been worse for the Americans entering the workforce. Between the early 1990s and 2010, median family wealth for families with a head of household older than 75 has increased 65%. For household heads under 35, it's fallen by a third. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise, then, that young people more likely to assign wealth to luck rather than hard work (56-34) than old people (38-52). Some results from the Aspen poll were downright shocking -- especially if you're a fan of stimulus or Keynesian economics. Younger Americans were a hair more likely to say a deficit undermines American values, and only one-third of respondents across all age groups said that running a deficit now is necessary for American growth.* No age group considered unions to have a mostly positive effect on American values -- though young people, at 47% positive, had the highest mark. Less shocking: Americans of all ages hate bankers. More than 70% of all age groups said Wall Street didn't share America's values. At least 60% said more bank executives should have gone to jail. WHO VOTES AND WHO WORKS Older Americans generate the most votes, but younger generations generate most of the country's economic activity. So it's striking that there are major differences between the age groups when it comes to American's values and policy preferences. As Leonhardt wrote, younger people "view a boisterously diverse United States as a fact of life" and "wish the country would devote more attention to their future." It's a nice sentiment, but also somewhat at odds with the reality of modern government. Infrastructure spending as a share of GDP has fallen 80 percent since the late 1960s. Public research and development spending has fallen, too. Education investments have been swamped by health care in the last generation. As much as we think of ourselves as a sprightly superpower, we have built, renovated, and protected a government focused on protecting wealth rather than investing in it.

We can say we want Washington and its budget to look younger. But American government by the old people, of the old people, and for the old people isn't in danger of disappearing from the earth any time soon. _______ *And yet ... Even the most conservative of deficit hawks I know doesn't think we should try to run a balanced budget next year.

Confirmed: Americans Have Lost Confidence in American Values

An opinion survey commissioned by The Atlantic finds widespread mistrust of governing elites and an aversion to spreading U.S. norms abroad.
By Conor Friedersdorf Jun 27 2012, 11:14 AM ET 12

Valerie Everett / Flickr

Should America focus on trying to spread our values to other countries around the world? The Atlantic posed that question in a just-released survey conducted in partnership with The Aspen Institute and Penn Schoen Berland. You'd think, given our government's involvement in countries around the world, that a majority of Americans would support official efforts to spread U.S. values. Quite the contrary.

Just 15 percent of those surveyed said that America should try to spread its values. 31 percent said that the United States should try to learn from the values of other countries.

51 percent said America should neither try to spread its values nor learn from the values of other countries.

These findings are intriguing. In the aftermath of World War II, the United States embarked on an unprecedented effort to deliberately spread American values, especially in Germany and Japan, the nations the Allies conquered, and in subsequent worldwide attempts to fight the spread of Communism. As recently as the Bush years, a majority of Americans thought it was a good idea to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, and to remake the laws and institutions in those countries in accordance with our own. To this day, the U.S. government exercises hard and soft power in scores of countries. The survey results suggest a vast gulf between the beliefs of Americans and the policies being implemented on their behalf.

Our annual guide to the modest ideas that can change the world See full coverage The failures of American foreign policy, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, surely explain some of the aversion to spreading our values. Why trust the folks running things to do so in a way that doesn't wind up being an expensive catastrophe? But the survey indicates something else is going on too. Americans have a low opinion of this country's values, perceiving that they are in decline. For example, asked if American values have strengthened, declined, or stayed about the same since the 1940s, just 17 percent say they've strengthened. And 68 percent say they're weaker today. This despite the fact that the 1940s were the age of forced internment of innocent Japanese Americans, Jim Crow laws, widespread mistreatment of gays, and unequal treatment of women. Roughly the same percentage said America's values have declined since the 1970s. And Americans are split on whether the U.S. has stronger or weaker values than the rest of the world:

Among 18- to 29-year-olds, a plurality think our values are weaker than those elsewhere. What factors contribute to America having stronger values than other countries? Presented with a long list of possible answers, 67 percent cited freedom of speech, 61 percent cited freedom of religion, and 50 percent cited the free-enterprise system, principles of equality, and the system laid out in our constitution. This suggests widespread support for the theory behind our civic system.

But Americans are a lot less fond of how it the U.S. system operates in practice. Asked what contributes to Americans having weaker values than other places in the world, these answers were given:

Americans also tend to believe that the most important values aren't ones that are easily exported -- asked, "Which of the following types of values do you consider to be most important in your life?" these were the answers:

There is so much of interest here. For now, I'll suggest just one conclusion. For several years, I've taken part in the ongoing debate about the wisdom of American interventions abroad. Interventionists and non-interventionists will continue to argue about the wisdom of U.S. campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Some people may be persuaded. But so long as public opinion resembles the findings in this survey, it is folly to embark on nation-building efforts, for their theoretical success depends on an American public with a deep, long-term commitment. The actual American public obviously isn't ready or willing to so commit. Americans think family values, moral values, and religious values, the very sorts that it is almost impossible to export, are most important; and that political values, the ones that we've been spending so much blood and treasure to entrench abroad, are of comparatively little importance. They think America's values are in decline, that our governing elites are corrupt, that we lack strong moral leaders, and that money rules in our political system. They also think we should focus on domestic rather than foreign affairs. Meanwhile, governing elites continue to support efforts to spread American values abroad, via force and more often via coercion or soft power (personally, I think the soft-power efforts should continue). In closing, an uncomfortable observation: From other public-opinion surveys, we know that sizable majorities of Americans support drone strikes abroad wherein the CIA kills alleged "militants" without any sort of transparency or due process, sometimes without even knowing the identities of the targets. That's an extraordinary power that America's governing elite asserts: the power to kill anyone based on the judgment of a few people in Washington, D.C. There is a basic contradiction in a polity that believes our leaders can be trusted to exercise that power in secret, and that our leaders lack strong morals, are prone to scandal, and are easily corruptible.