Which aspects of life do Americans think are better in the U.S. than they are in other countries? A recent YouGov poll asked Americans how the U.S. stacks up against the rest of the world on 40 metrics, and finds that in many respects, the U.S. is seen by its citizens as outperforming other countries.
Majorities of Americans believe that the U.S. is the best or better than most countries when it comes to military strength (74%), freedom of speech (62%), religious freedom (61%), entertainment (60%), women’s rights (52%), and scientific innovation (52%).
One-third or more say the U.S. is the worst or worse than most countries in terms of government accountability (39%), health care (36%), cost of living (35%), national unity (34%), and its education system (34%). For all of those, more say the U.S. is worse than most or all than say it is better than most or all — a dubious distinction that also applies to government efficiency (31% say it is worse than all or most other countries), retirement security (29%), and moral values (29%).
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view the U.S. as above average on nearly all of the 40 measures included in the poll, with the gap especially large for treatment of immigrants, women’s rights, patriotism, democracy, and press freedom.
The only aspect of American life that Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to view as being above average relative to other countries is election integrity; 39% of Democrats say U.S. election integrity is better than most countries or the best, compared to 36% of Republicans.
On all of the 40 metrics included in the survey, men are more likely than women to rate the U.S. as better than most or all other countries. 64% of men and 41% of women say the U.S. leads most other countries in women’s rights.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted June 3 – 5, 2025 among 1,127 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, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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