(NewsNation) — More than half of Americans say the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world, but the share of the population who believe the country stands above all others has declined modestly over the past four years.
That’s according to a new survey from Pew Research Center, which found 52% of Americans believe the U.S. is one of the greatest countries in the world. That’s down from 55% in 2019.
Likewise, the share of Americans who say the U.S. “stands above all other countries in the world” dropped from 24% in 2019 to 20% in 2023.
Much of the change comes from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Four years ago, 40% of that group said America stood above all others, but now, only 31% do.
Meanwhile, a larger share of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents say other countries are better than the U.S. In 2019, 31% of the group held that opinion, compared to 36% in 2023.
Among Republicans, 17% said other countries are better, nearly double the 9% who said that in 2019.
Views of how America compares with other countries varies by age, the Pew survey found.
About 4 in 10 adults age 18-29 (43%) say other countries are better than the United States, the highest share of any age group. On the other end of the spectrum, nearly 3 in 10 adults age 65 or older (29%) say the United States stands above all other nations.
Age differences are evident in party coalitions, too.
Half of all Democrats under 30 say other countries are superior to the U.S., compared to 19% of those ages 65 or older who say this. Younger Republicans are less likely than older Republicans to say the U.S. is the greatest country: 16% of those ages 18 to 29 say this, compared with 41% of those 65 and older.
Pew notes that between 2011 and 2019, a decline in views of the United States’ was concentrated among Democrats. However, the decline over the past four years is concentrated among Republicans.