This is an I-Heart podcast.

Welcome back to a numbers game podcast.

Thank you so much for being here this Thursday, July 3rd.

I want to start off by saying,

Happy Independence Day to everybody.

Fourth of July is probably my favorite holiday because it's a relatively low

maintenance day.

People are just in a good mood.

You don't have to buy presents.

I've never personally been to a bad Fourth of July party.

Then again, my friends don't really shoot rockets off their heads and end up in an ambulance.

So I encourage everybody if you're celebrating with some fireworks and you're celebrating your

nation's birthday by blowing part of it up to act responsibly.

Gallup had a new poll out regarding how many Americans, how Americans feel about their

country. Only 58% said they were either very or extremely proud to be American. It is the

lowest number since Gallup started

asking the question back in 2001. There was a stark difference based on political ideology,

however. Ninety-two percent of Republicans reported to be very or extremely proud of their

country. This is a greater percentage than in 2001 following the 9-11 attacks. The number of independents, however,

fell to an all-time low of 53% down from 58% the year prior. Democrats, however, not so in love

with America right now. Only 36% of Democrats said they were either very or extremely proud

to be an American. That's down from

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