June 27, 2017
There are a few ways to look at the “2017’s Most Patriotic States in America” study released by WalletHub on Tuesday.
One would be to frame it as an edict that the “least patriotic states voted for Hillary Clinton” as a conservative outlet did a few hours ago.
That’s all well and good, I suppose.
I choose, however, to see how Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey fared.
This isn’t to make a point about a Pennsylvania that voted for Donald Trump or a New Jersey that’s led by highly unpopular Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
It’s all about proximity. And, quite frankly, the results are disappointing.
Not only are all three in the bottom 10 states when “13 key indicators of patriotism” were tabulated. But, for the second consecutive year, New Jersey is the least patriotic state in all the land.
Granted, polls aren’t what they used to be, meaning there’s been a consistent trend of pollsters missing the point.
But as it comes to the 13 patriotism benchmarks regarding military service, voting and volunteerism, the Garden State did not fare well.
Here’s what they are and where New Jersey ranked:
• Average number of military enlistees per 1,000 civilian adults population between 2010 and 2015, 0.43 (47th)
• Veterans per 1,000 civilian adult population, 62.3 (49th)
• Active-duty military personnel per 100,000 civilian adult population, 87 (37th)
• Share of civilian adult population in military reserves, 0.26 percent (44th)
• Share of adults who voted in 2016 presidential election, 61.52 percent (30th)
• Share of adults who voted in primary elections, 20.4 percent (32nd)
• Volunteer rate, 22.15 percent (40th)
• Volunteer hours per resident, 30.25 (27th)
• AmeriCorps volunteers per 100,000 residents, 13.04 (42nd)
• Peace Corps volunteers per 100,000 residents, 2.08 (28th)
• Trial and grand-jury participation per 100,000 civilian population 18 years and over, 65.90 (29th)
• Frequency of Google searches for American flags, 86 (23rd)
• Civics education requirement (1st)
• Overall score: 27.46 (50th)
For their part, Delaware and Pennsylvania ranked 41st and 42nd respectively. Also sad!
The top three? Virginia, Alaska and Wyoming. Full results can be viewed via this link.
