American Culture

“…for the first time, a majority of Americans, 53%, consider it one of their favorite holidays. In fact, an even bigger majority, 58%, think Halloween should be a national holiday.” - Veith

“Most Americans can identify at least one value from a list of 12 that they believe is widely shared in the country…. Yet, there is little consensus on which values are widely shared, or which the country needs more of. Even so, 79% of Americans say respecting different values matters more than sharing the same ones” - Gallup

“When teens have questions about who they are, they turn first to their mom (84%) and dad (78%), well ahead of every other source Barna measured.” - Barna

“According to an analysis of the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data … 17% of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual in 2025, down from 30% in 2021. Over the same period, the share identifying specifically as bisexual fell from 26% to 13%.” - CPost

“Are today’s cultural critics still offering deep insight into the maladies of modernity? Or are they mainly just ginning up angst and anger? There is a fine line, after all, between critiquing civilizational threats and wallowing in despair. ‘Despair’ has unquestionably been a prominent theme of right-wing literature for several years now” - Acton

“A new IFS report, The Devout Difference, examines two institutions—faith and family—that have long been among America’s most reliable antidotes to isolation. The evidence suggests both remain signal sources of social solidarity even as they have lost ground.” - IFS

“The survey also found Americans’ knowledge of their First Amendment rights is sorely lacking….

“There was a whole apparatus behind that: Special sermons. VHS tapes. At least one book. All of it arguing that Pikachu was the gateway to the occult.” - Relevant

“Younger adults stand out for describing their smartphone use as excessive. Seven-in-ten adults under 30 say they spend too much time on it, as do about two-thirds of those ages 30 to 49. Roughly half of those ages 50 to 64 and a quarter of those 65 and older say the same.” - Pew

“Most polls do not ask follow-up questions about a person’s religious identity. When they do ask Nones about their specific beliefs, however, we see that they overwhelmingly believe in God (or a ‘higher power’), and they think people have souls.” - CPost