Many of our readers may have seen these periodic “Most favorite” or “Top 10 or “Top 25” polls that come out from various websites.
With the Fourth of July upon us, I’d like to share some statistics received from WalletHub that deals with patriotism, the Fourth of July and the most patriotic states.
“To determine where Americans bleed the most red, white and blue, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 13 key indicators of patriotism. The data set ranges from average number of military enlistees to share of adults who voted in the 2016 presidential election to AmeriCorps volunteers per capita,” states WalletHub in its latest survey that came out this week. To determine the most patriotic states, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states across two key dimensions, including “Military Engagement” and “Civic Engagement.”
WalletHub evaluated those dimensions using 13 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of patriotism.
Finally, WalletHub determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score, which was then used to rank-order all the cities in the sample.
Military Engagement
Average Number of Military Enlistees per 1,000 Civilian Adults Population Between 2010 & 2015 (No Prior Service)
Veterans per 1,000 Civilian Adult Population
Active-Duty Military Personnel per 100,000 Civilian Adult Population
Share of Civilian Adult Population in Military Reserves
Civic Engagement
Share of Adults Who Voted in 2016 Presidential Election
Share of Adults Who Voted in 2016 Primary Elections
Volunteer Rate
Volunteer Hours per Resident
AmeriCorps Volunteers per Capita
Peace Corps Volunteers per Capita
Trial- & Grand-Jury Participation per Civilian Adult Population
Frequency of Google Searches for American Flags (Note: This metric was adjusted for the total number of searches.)
Civics Education Requirement
Then WalletHub asked a handful of experts — all university history professors to examine seven questions:
What are the characteristics of a good patriot?
What is the relative influence of economic incentives versus patriotic intentions when deciding whether to join the military? Has this changed over time?
Is there a link between socio-economic class and level of patriotism?
When evaluating the most patriotic states in America, what are the top five indicators?
Has there been a shift in the way younger generations perceive and express their patriotism?
Should we be raising our children as global citizens first or as Americans first?
What measures should schools and local authorities undertake in order to promote patriotism among citizens?
Once the experts crunched the numbers, where did Nevada show up among all the states. According to WalletHub, the Silver State ranked 23rd.
In the top five and bottom five, Nevada ranked near the last in the number of volunteers, coming in 47th.
Based on what I have heard others in the state and what other newspapers have reported from time to time, I’m not too surprised and the same may be heard across the state. Civic organizations report numbers of members are down as are the number of members in military service organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, etc.
So, here are the top states:
Virginia
Alaska
Wyoming
South Carolina
Colorado
Washington
Hawaii
Idaho
Georgia
North Carolina
Maine
South Dakota
New Hampshire
Oklahoma
Kansas
Nebraska
Maryland
Utah
Arizona
Mississippi
Vermont
Montana
Nevada
Missouri
North Dakota
New Mexico
Alabama
Wisconsin
Iowa
Texas
Florida
Minnesota
Louisiana
Arkansas
Ohio
Kentucky
West Virginia
Oregon
Indiana
Delaware
Pennsylvania
Michigan
California
Connecticut
New York
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Illinois
New Jersey
Steve Ranson is editor of the LVN.