On July 4, 2026, the United States marked its 250th anniversary with a record fireworks display and President Trump's declaration of a "golden age." Yet, public opinion tells a very different story.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos survey in late June, Trump's approval stood at just 34%, with 63% disapproving. An AP-NORC poll from June 2026 found that only 37% of U.S. adults approved of his handling of the economy. Majorities also disapproved of his handling of inflation and tariffs, with most voters believing tariffs have harmed the economy.
Domestically, former Assistant Secretary Thomas Fingar captures the national mood:
"People are distressed by the paralysis in our system," he said, adding that Congress is "not playing the role that it was intended to play."
The American dream is "battered, but it's still alive," Fingar said, though he conceded that parents have "lost confidence" that their children will live better than they did.
Cliff Kupchan of Eurasia Group offers a sharp critique of elite failure.
"After four years of Trump, there was no attempt to diagnose why Trump got elected the first time," he observed. "U.S. elites just went into the sand."
Addressing the white working class, the heart of MAGA, requires "a lot more attention to job retraining," Kupchan said, "but that just hasn't happened at all."
Meanwhile, AP NORC analysis shows that among independents without a college degree, Trump's favorability dropped from 48% around the 2024 election to roughly one quarter by spring 2026.
Internationally, Trump has withdrawn from the WHO, the Paris Agreement, and more than 60 other multilateral bodies. Washington also owes more than $4 billion in UN arrears, having paid nothing for the last year and a half.
"Previous presidents more or less complied with international law," Kupchan said, but Trump "just doesn't." He called it the first time a hegemon "has willingly and actively undermined its own order."
The 250th anniversary has also exposed deep pessimism. A Quinnipiac University poll in July found that 61% of Americans believe the U.S. has failed to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. A Pew Research Center survey found two-thirds expect political divisions to worsen, and a majority predict U.S. global influence will decline.
Most strikingly, young adults aged 18–29 are the least confident about the nation's future, reflecting Fingar's warning that the certainty of a better life has faded for many Americans.
Fireworks cannot mask a country drifting toward division, isolation, and eroding trust. The question remains: has Trump truly made America great again, or has he just accelerated its unraveling?
Reporter: Guo Zedong
Video & cover: Deng Yingheng
