Nationhood Lab unveils research report on “The Story of America” in Washington, D.C.

Nationhood Lab, a privately funded initiative of Salve Regina’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, has released the results of a year-long research project to find and develop a broadly held story of common national purpose, origins and belonging. The report, presented at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., showed that unlike many issues in American life, Americans share a broad consensus that the purpose of the United States is to seek to achieve the civic ideals in the opening statement of our Declaration of Independence.

The report, “The Story of America: A rebooted civic national narrative for the United States,” includes core narrative scripts outlining this broadly shared vision of the U.S. It is the result of a significant research, polling and messaging development project.

The research project found broad support for a national narrative based on the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence, which have near sacred status in our culture. These ideals, which enshrine, justify, and guide the American Experiment in building a society where individuals can be maximally and sustainably free, provide Americans with a powerful and effective story of common purpose.

“21st century Americans have increasingly been asking what still holds us together as a nation and are wondering if we no longer have a commitment to shared values and ideals,” said Colin Woodard, director of Nationhood Lab and the report’s author. “Every nation is held together by the story its members have come to accept about where it came from, what its purpose is, who belongs to it and who does not. Without such a story it becomes difficult or impossible to initiate and sustain coherent public actions and, ultimately, to prevent a nation from falling apart.”

Civic ideals or heritage and character: How do Americans define our nation?

In April 2024, Nationhood Lab and pollster Embold Research conducted a nationwide survey of 1,567 Americans asking if they preferred to define their country by its commitment to civic ideals or by shared ancestry, history, traditions or culture. The results showed that ideals-based definitions of the country were preferred by nearly every demographic category.

63% of respondents aligned with the statement that we are united “not by a shared religion or ancestry or history, but by our shared commitment to a set of American founding ideals: that we all have inherent and equal rights to live, to not be tyrannized and to pursue happiness as we each understand it.” 33% said we are united “by shared history, traditions and values and by our fortitude and character as Americans, a people who value hard work, individual responsibility and national loyalty.”

Follow-on in-depth interviews with representative respondents aimed to understand their feelings about the country’s purpose and various aspects of the Declaration of Independence’s ideals. These results, along with the results of two additional national surveys, showed the Declaration’s ideals are supported nearly universally and are hardwired into many Americans’ minds. However, many are skeptical of the country’s track record in implementing or upholding these ideals.

Based on this research, Nationhood Lab developed and tested a ‘rebooted’ civic narrative as a public good available to any American who wants to talk about the U.S. in ways that help unify its people in a period of profound division. The resulting narrative frame provides research-driven insights on how to express these ideals to 21st century audiences coherently and effectively.