Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States, YouGov asked Americans to reflect on the country’s history, values, and most prominent figures. They say freedom is its top value, slavery is its greatest shame, and Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump are its greatest and worst people — with substantial competition. Trump also places fifth in the contest for the greatest American.

The questions were developed in three stages. In an earlier survey, we asked open-ended questions about the best and worst of the U.S., then identified the most common responses with the help of AI. Those results were used to create a later survey that allowed Americans to choose among the most frequently mentioned values, historical moments, and public figures that characterize the country. In a third survey, we listed the Americans viewed as among the greatest in their field and asked who Americans consider the all-time greatest and worst Americans from the last 250 years. The method, like the history books, yields lists heavy on men, but watch this space for a followup on the most prominent women of the country's first 250 years.

American values

Freedom is the value that Americans are most likely to say best represents the U.S. Out of eight options, 25% of Americans chose freedom as the most representative value, followed by capitalism (14%), democracy (13%), and opportunity (11%).

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say that freedom best represents the U.S. (42% vs. 12%). Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to name democracy (23% vs. 9%) and capitalism (20% vs. 4%).

Many Americans (22%) also say that freedom is the value that the U.S. should most aspire to represent; it is tied with equality (22%) and the two are followed by democracy (17%) and opportunity (10%).

Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say the U.S. should most aspire to represent freedom (24% vs. 11%). Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say the U.S. should aspire to equality (33% vs. 16%) and democracy (29% vs. 13%).

America's best and worst moments

Of highlights of their nation's 250-year history, Americans are most likely to say they are proudest of the founding of the country (20%) and the abolition of slavery (18%). Other events frequently mentioned are the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (10%) and the election of Barack Obama in 2008 (9%).

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say they are most proud of the country's founding (31% vs. 10%) and of Trump's 2016 election (20% vs. 0%). Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to be most proud of the abolition of slavery (23% vs. 12%), Obama's 2008 election (22% vs. 1%), and the 1964 Civil Rights Act (16% vs. 5%).

What parts of U.S. history are Americans most ashamed of? Out of 10 options, slavery is named by the largest share (24%). Otherwise, events from the most recent of the nation's 25 decades get a lot of votes. 16% of Americans — including 29% of Democrats — say they are most ashamed of Trump's victory in the 2016 election. 11% — including 27% of Republicans — say they are most ashamed of the 2020 victory of Joe Biden. And 9% of Americans name the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including 15% of Democrats and 4% of Republicans.

The best and worst Americans

Who is the greatest American of all time? To answer this question, we first used open-ended responses to select candidates for questions about the greatest Americans in six areas including sports and politics, then used the top choices from those questions to create a final list of 18 contenders for greatest American.

Using this method, we find that Abraham Lincoln is most likely to be viewed as the greatest American, as the choice of 18% of Americans. Lincoln is followed by George Washington (13%), Martin Luther King Jr. (12%), Obama (10%), and Trump (8%).

While a 19th-century president tops the overall list, more recent figures lead among Democrats and Republicans. Among Democrats, King is considered the greatest by the largest share (24%), followed by Obama (22%) and Lincoln (19%). Trump tops the list among Republicans (24%), followed by Washington (19%) and Lincoln (18%).

Who are the greatest Americans within six major domains? Figures from the 20th century lead in most of the categories.

  • Michael Jordan is the most common choice for the greatest American athlete (20%), followed by Muhammad Ali (13%) and Babe Ruth (9%)
  • The largest share (29%) of Americans choose Michael Jackson as the greatest American entertainer. Jackson is followed by Elvis Presley (15%) and Walt Disney (12%)
  • Mark Twain is selected by 23% of Americans as the greatest American writer, followed by Stephen King (11%) and Edgar Allan Poe (11%).
  • 20% choose Lincoln as the greatest American political figure. Lincoln is followed by King Jr. (14%), Washington (11%), Obama (10%), and Trump (9%)
  • Albert Einstein is seen as the best American scientist or inventor by 21% of Americans, followed by Nikola Tesla (15%) and Thomas Edison (15%)
  • Similar shares choose Henry Ford (13%), Warren Buffett (12%), and Elon Musk (11%) as the greatest American business leaders

Trump is selected by the largest share (34%) of Americans as the worst American from the last 250 years, out of nine options who emerged from earlier polling results. 64% of Democrats and 4% of Republicans name Trump as the worst. He is followed by Jeffrey Epstein (14%), Barack Obama (8%), and Jeffrey Dahmer (8%). Republicans are most likely to name Obama (19%) as the worst American ever, followed by Biden (17%).

See the results for these YouGov surveys

— Carl Bialik contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from two online surveys conducted on June 23 - 25, 2026 (among 1,110 U.S. adult citizens) and June 24 - 27, 2026 (among 1,118 U.S. adult citizens). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.

Image: Getty (ANDREY DENISYUK)

What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.

Subscribe to the YouGov newsletter