The “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan embodies a vision and policy goals, including opposing immigration and diversity initiatives. Embedded in the MAGA label are assumptions that America was once great and can be restored to greatness, which we systematically examine through a social-cognitive lens.
Drawing on social cognition research, we first operationalize greatness in terms of perceived status and morality. We then use high-quality polls conducted after January 2025 to examine whether America might currently be perceived as great among ingroup (American) and outgroup (non-American) members.
We suggest that America may be perceived as losing status and morality among outgroup and ingroup members. However, within the United States, perceptions of American greatness may vary considerably across political parties. We also advance strategies for America to improve its status and moral standing.
This article provides a framework for systematically evaluating the extent to which America is perceived as great and how those perceptions may vary across perceiver identity. It thus enables researchers and individuals to evaluate whether the MAGA movement is reaching its goals and how to improve America’s standing in the world among ingroup and outgroup members.
