State Pride and the Quality of Democracy in the American States

Abstract

We evaluate whether feelings of state pride in the USA are linked to the quality of democracy in one’s state. Using two original surveys, we find no relationship between an objective measure of the quality of state democracy and feelings of state pride. In contrast, we find a consistent positive relationship between subjective evaluations and state pride such that citizens with more positive evaluations of the quality of democracy in their state report higher levels of state pride. Interestingly, feelings of state pride are not linked to the objective measure of democracy even when citizens are informed of where their state ranks in a survey experiment. However, subsample analyses reveal that there is a relationship between the objective measure and state pride among Democrats and political “losers” (citizens living in states where the government is controlled by the opposite party). We conclude by discussing implications for citizenship and state pride in an era of democratic erosion.