Poll: 62% say Fourth of July is one of the most important American holidays

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Happy Fourth of July 2009!

In celebration of our independence day Rasmussen Reports has released the results of their annual polling on the topic of all things July 4th. Positive nationalist feelings seem to be on the rise in 2009 in spite of these struggling economic times, uncertain future and an electorate increasingly at odds with one another.

In the Philadelphia area we take special pride in the celebration of this holiday as the true birthplace of America. Likewise it seems the majority of our fellow countrymen agree with that sentiment. Up four points from last year 62% of Americans now view the Fourth of July as on of our country’s most important holidays. This is a 4% increase from the same poll taken in 2008. A miniscule 4% feel it’s one of our nation’s least important holiday’s, while nearly one-third (32%) think it ranks somewhere in between.

There is a small divide between genders with men considering July 4th more important than women by a 66-59% margin. The gap is a bit larger between political parties however. 73% of Republicans against 57% of Democrats and unaffiliated voters are sold on the 4th being one of America’s most important holidays.

When grading our Founding Fathers 32% of Americans consider George Washington to be the greatest of group. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin rank second and third with 26% and 22% respectively, with the second U.S. President John Adams (7%) and James Madison (3%) a distant fourth and fifth. One in ten Americans are undecided on who is the greatest Founding Father according to the poll.

Earlier in June Rasmussen ask similar questions regarding the Constitution. 83% of Americans consider the central document to be either good or great, but more specific questions garner interesting results. Just 10% of poll responders think the Constitution places too much restriction of what our government can do against 44% who feel it does not do enough, and 38% considering it to be just about right. Perhaps in response to certain scandals and the numerous spending bills brought forth by the Obama administration there has been a 5% increase from a year ago of those feeling the Constitution does not do enough to restrict government.

More than half of Americans (54%) believe our country to be a nation of “liberty and justice for all” to this day, with 82% stating they’d rather live in America than any country in the world if given the choice to move anywhere.

Finally a number of opinion polls through the years have been done on the topic of who Americans feel was the greatest or worst President.

A 2000 ABC poll ranked fourteen Presidents who garnered at least 1% of support. Abraham Lincoln came in first place with 19% of the total followed by 17% for John F. Kennedy, 11% for Franklin Roosevelt and 9% for Ronald Reagan. The results of a Washington College poll from 2005 closely mirrored those results; Lincoln (20%), Reagan (15%), Roosevelt (12%) and Kennedy (11%) ranked first through fourth. More recently a Gallup survey from 2007 again had the four aforementioned President’s in the top five with Bill Clinton who ranked fifth in the Washington College poll climbing to fourth in Gallup’s study.

Rasmussen in 2007 decided to rank each President in terms of their historical “favorably-viewed” rating. Not surprisingly George Washington (94%) and Abraham Lincoln (92%) finished first and second. Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were next on the list each pulling in an at least 80% favorable. Rounding out the top-11 with 70-79% favorable ratings are John Adams, James Madison, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman. Bill Clinton (55%) ranked 20th on the list with Richard Nixon and George W. Bush scoring the highest unfavorable ratings of any two Presidents.

Rounding out the surveys is a 2006 Quinnipiac poll asking 1,534 registered voters who they considered to be the worst President of the eleven who have served since World War II. George W. Bush was voted the worst by a whopping 34%, with Richard Nixon a distant second (17%), the polarizing Bill Clinton third (16%), Jimmy Carter fourth (13%) and no other President breaking the five percentile.

Have a happy and safe holiday everyone!