DIVIDED AMERICA: Pondering whether America's still great

Yet Americans say they still believe in America, the experiment in democracy that the founders described as a place where the government should protect the rights of ordinary people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

EDITOR'S NOTE — This story is part of Divided America, AP's ongoing exploration of the economic, social and political divisions in American society.

[...] who defines greatness? A billionaire businessman, a former secretary of state — or an aging musician in New Orleans?

The Associated Press interviewed a wide range of Americans to get a sense of what they think about the nation's greatness in the twilight of President Barack Obama's eight years in office.

America is divided by political party, choice of media, income, gender, race or ethnic group, religious faith (or not), generation, geography and general outlook on the country's future.

Pundits have proclaimed the electorate angry and wondered if the nation can ever recover the sense of unity experienced in the immediate aftermath of the al-Qaida attacks that took place 15 years ago this September.

Recent polling by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows just 13 percent of Americans are proud of the 2016 election, and 55 percent feel helpless.

Only 10 percent have a great deal of confidence in the overall political system, with 4 percent having a great deal of confidence in Congress, 15 percent in the executive branch, and 24 percent in the Supreme Court.

Few Americans see either political party as responsive to ordinary voters.

Known as "Deacon" in his native New Orleans, 74-year-old guitarist John Moore remembers a time when America was headed in the right direction, when everything seemed to be coming together.

Agriculture consultant and farmer Mike Poling of Delphos, Ohio, expects good governance and leadership "and nothing less."

In a sprawling country of 319 million people, it's easy for most anyone to tuck themselves away in suburbia, the rural heartland, an urban ghetto or a gentrified neighborhood and see only those things outside the front window or just down the street.

People can turn on the echo chamber of cable TV or the internet and forget what high school student Dana Craig says America really is: A great place built on the idea that everyone should get an equal opportunity, a chance.

Associated Press writer Mike Householder in Delphos, Ohio; video journalists Peter Banda in Denver and Teresa Crawford in Chicago; and photographer Bob Bukaty in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.