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The Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision on birthright citizenship comes as Americans are split on the question of whether being born in the U.S. is central to American identity, with stark partisan divides on the issue, according to the recent NBC News poll.
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New data from the survey poll finds a slim majority — 54% — say being born in the U.S. is important to being “truly American,” while 45% say it is not important. Overall, Americans rank several other traits as far more important to American identity.
The poll tested whether Americans view eight different ideas or traits as important to being “truly American.” The survey was sponsored by More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy, and conducted by Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates and GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. The results were gathered ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down an executive order from President Donald Trump, which sought to restrict birthright citizenship for children of temporary visitors or of people who entered the country illegally.
Being born in the U.S. was at the bottom of the list of traits tested in the poll, with more Americans saying seven other traits were very or somewhat important. Those include believing in the ideas of liberty and equality, voting in elections, being involved in your local community, speaking English, sharing American customs and traditions, believing in God, and being actively engaged in the political process by donating to or volunteering for a candidate for office or cause.
When looking just at the share of respondents who rated a trait as “very important,” being born in the U.S. ranked second-to-last among the eight traits tested.
Overwhelming majorities of Americans say that believing in the ideas of liberty and equality, along with voting in elections, are “very important” to being truly American.
There is a stark partisan divide over whether being born in the U.S. is key to being truly American. Three in four Republicans say it is important, while nearly two-thirds of Democrats say it is not. Independents are split, with 52% saying it is not important and 48% taking the opposite view.
President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters also view being born in the U.S. as central to American identity, with 78% of Trump voters and 83% of Republicans who align more with his “Make America Great Again” movement saying it is important to being truly American. A smaller share of Republicans who do not align with the MAGA movement (64%) agree.
Americans are also divided over the importance of being U.S.-born depending on their age and education levels.
Those ages 65 and older are far more likely to say being born in the country is important (73%). But 60% of those between the ages of 18 and 34 say it is not important.
And while majorities of Americans with postgraduate or college degrees say being born in the U.S. is not important, majorities of those with some college education or a high school degree say it is key to being truly American.
Americans across political, social and economic spectrums agreed that voting and believing in liberty and equality were central to being considered “truly American.” There was also broad agreement across those usual divides that being involved in one’s local community is also a key trait.
Majorities of independents, Democrats and Republicans also agree that actively engaging in politics, including donating or volunteering for a candidate or cause, is important to being truly American.
But the country’s political polarization also meant that Americans are sharply divided over whether other traits and ideas define the national identity, along with being born in the U.S.
The widest gap between Democrats and Republicans is over the importance of believing in God, with 83% of Republicans saying it is an important American trait and just 35% of Democrats saying the same.
Americans are also politically polarized over the importance of speaking English. Nearly all Republicans (93%) say speaking English is important to be considered truly American, while 53% of Democrats say the same.
An overwhelming share of Republicans (94%) also say sharing American customs and traditions is important, while 77% of independents believe the same, followed by 65% of Democrats.
The poll was conducted May 29-June 7 and surveyed 3,000 adults nationally via a mix of telephone interviews and an online survey sent via text message. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
