Fireworks displays may get more eyerolls than usual this July 4 weekend, according to a Fox News poll that found nearly 30 percent of participants don’t think the U.S. is the best country to live in.
The poll was conducted from June 19 to 22 under the joint direction of Beacon Research and Shaw & Company and it included interviews with 1,001 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide “who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones,” said Fox.
Overall, the poll found that 69 percent of participants believe America is the best country to live in and 29 percent think other nations are better to settle in. Fox said the percentage of people who favor other countries has been going up since 2011, when 84 percent of participants were sure America was the top.
Although most participants (56 percent) said their financial situation was steady, this year marks a 14-point drop in participants’ attitude towards living in the U.S. since 2015, when 83 percent of participants said they thought the U.S. was best.
A U.S. News & World Report ranking of countries this year based on a variety of metrics found that Canada was the top place to live. On that list, the U.S. came in 6th place behind Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
According to Fox, only 53 percent of millennials thought the U.S. was the best country to live in, 72 percent of Gen X participants did and 79 percent of baby boomers did.
Just over half (52 percent) over those polled said they thought America had its best days to look forward to and 39 percent said they though the country had already hit its peak. Compared to 2017, Republicans, white voters, independent voters and men polled have less favorable views about the country, while Black voters and Democrats have a more hopeful outlook, said Fox.
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Age didn’t seem to be a factor in participants’ expectations for the U.S. going forward, as the millennials, Gen X and baby boomers polled all were split on the question.
Most poll participants (56 percent) approved of President Joe Biden and only 34 percent approve of Congress, though that number is up from 24 percent last June.