As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, American citizens are expressing some birthday blues.

An Associated Press/National Opinion Research Center poll conducted in April found only about a third of Americans believe in the American Dream — described as the belief that if you work hard, you can improve your financial situation — still holds true.

The poll also found only about a fifth of Americans believe America can be described as “great, prosperous or powerful.”

A Gallup poll conducted this May echoed the pessimism, showing more than two-thirds of Americans, 77%, believe the nation’s Founding Fathers would approve of the country now.

If you consider only what shows up on 24-hour news networks or your social media feed, you couldn’t be blamed if you came to believe that, while we broadly agree the country has taken a wrong turn, we are a nation deeply divided on what that means, which issues are important and how to address the situation.

But the polling says otherwise.

A poll conducted by The Center Square in June found 86% of American registered voters support the nation’s founding principles, presented as “individual rights such as life, liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, equal treatment under the law, and government by the consent of the people.”

While only 31% of those polled believe those principles are being practiced well today; it shows that on the underlying principles that really define us, the beliefs that unify us as Americans, we are largely in agreement.

As we celebrate the United States’ birthday, we should all keep that in mind. For this moment, let’s put aside partisan differences of conservative or liberal worldviews and the political party labels that go with them. Let’s step back from the “culture wars” that any long view of history shows have always been present and have rarely been more than fleeting footnotes in our story.

For a short time, in honor of our nation’s founding, let us step back, lay down our metaphorical swords, stop viewing those we disagree with as enemies and find common ground as a single people on those basic, defining principles that are the core of what makes us all joint participants in the great experiment of American democracy.

— JP