Americans say founders would give grim 250th report card: poll

Data: Gallup; Chart: Avery Lotz/AxiosBack in 2001, most Americans thought the Founding Fathers would be pleased with how our country turned out.Today, fewer than one in five agree, according to a recent poll.Why it matters: Few things unite Americans in its 250th year like their shared conviction — across party, age, race and income — that the country has let its founders down.By the numbers: More than three in four Americans (77%) say the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the United States we see today, the highest level of disappointment Gallup has ever seen.Just 19% say the founders would be pleased, down from 27% in 2013.Between the lines: Republicans (25%) are more likely than Democrats (13%) and Independents (21%) to say the founding fathers would be pleased. But in the 2026 and 2013 readings, the partisan gap flipped depending on who holds the White House: In 2013, with former President Obama in office, 42% of Democrats thought the founders would give a thumbs up, vs. just 12% of Republicans.Both the 2013 and 2026 sentiments were drearier than they were in 2003 and earlier, across political ideologies.Yes, but: On the sunnier side, Americans still largely think the country has succeeded at least a fair amount in achieving the ideals for which it was founded.20% say the country has succeeded a great deal, while 49% say it's progressed a fair amount.But that's still a smaller share than when Gallup first asked the question in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. Then, 77% said the country had succeeded a fair amount or great deal. After 9/11, an even greater share, 84%, said the same in 2002.The youngest age group polled (those 18 to 34) were less likely (8%) than their oldest peers (24%) to say the country has succeeded a great deal.The bottom line: At the turn of the century, Americans were far more likely than they are in the nation's semiquincentennial to say the founders would applaud the country their vision grew into. But despite that discontent at this point in time, Americans still see progress when reflecting on the founders' ideals. Methodology: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted by ReconMR May 1-17 with a random sample of 1,001 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and D.C. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.Go deeper: America approaches 250 with its best days in doubt