Americans ‘dissatisfied’ with political leaders, division

() — Recent polling shows Americans are less patriotic than previous

A recent poll from the Wall Street Journal found 28% of Americans believe patriotism is very important. That’s compared to 25 years ago, when 70% of people said patriotism was an important value to them.

“There’s a lot of patriotism still in our country,” said Joe Chenelly, AMVETS national executive director and a Marine veteran.

Chenelly told those numbers aren’t dissimilar from people surveyed at the end of the Vietnam War and the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, 50 years ago.

“I think this is more indicative of people being dissatisfied with their elected officials and just with the political division that’s in our country, it’s not a real reflection of how people feel about this country,” Chenelly said.

Chenelly said he believes younger people will become more patriotic as they age.

“The younger generations, they haven’t lived enough life yet to understand how good they have it here in the United States,” Chenelly said.