Saving the Soul of America?

In his announcement that he was running for re-election, President Biden said he was running “for the soul of America”:

President Joe Biden made it official Tuesday morning: The 80-year incumbent is running for reelection, setting up what could be a rematch of the ugly and tumultuous 2020 campaign against Republican Donald Trump.

In a three-minute video posted to his social media accounts, Biden asked Americans to help him “finish the job” and cast the race as a referendum on freedom and democracy itself.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” Biden says in the video, which was posted four years to the day after he announced he would run for president in 2019. “That’s why I’m running for reelection.”

Opening with scenes of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and segueing quickly to scenes of abortion rights protesters, Biden warned against the rights that would be rolled back if Republicans were to take charge.

“Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books and telling people who they can love – all while making it more difficult for you to vote,” Biden warned in the ad.

as quoted in a piece at Newsweek by Susan Milligan. I have no idea what that means. 20 years ago I thought I might have been able to tell you. Not only that but that to the degree that America’s values had changed over the last 80 years, the change had been for the better.

Now not only do I not know what is meant by “the soul of America”, more Americans than ever before think our values are deteriorating as noted by Gallup:

and here’s what they found as the relative priorities:

That’s from June of last year. We’ll need to wait until June for an update.

Does what President Biden said align with that or not?