We were interested in how Americans rated some of the broad-based categories of their identities. Across multiple US census-based populations we asked people how important certain traits were to them. The traits were their age, their accomplishments, their family, their gender, religion and ethnicity. As with most surveys, it depends on the sample of people and who was doing the ratings.
For the whole population, the results were as follows. For an interesting comparison we included the results from Canada. The scale is from -100 to +100
| Trait | United States | Canada |
| Age/Generation | +71 | 0 |
| Accomplishments | +24 | +24 |
| Family | +18 | +64 |
| Gender | +2 | +1 |
| Religion | -6 | -32 |
| Ethnicity | -17 | -6 |
It is interesting that in the US, everyone seems to be aware of age/generation as an important trait to be aware of followed by one’s accomplishments and family. In Canada, Family was the biggest trait to be considered. Gender was similarly rated by both countries. Religion was negatively skewed in both countries with Canada rating it 5 times the US mark. For ethnicity the scores flipped with the US characterizing it as being more negative.To be sure, when the raters were Women or Black, Asian or Latinx, the ratings for Gender, Religion and Ethnicity changes substantially.
