Here’s a residual effect of the Biden era.

International polls show a median of 81% of people in 142 countries express satisfaction with their freedom.  Dozens of those countries are dictatorships or authoritarian states, so one wonders just how much some of their citizens were free to comment.

Regardless of the accuracy of those numbers, it’s clear that Americans are increasingly worried.

“For the third year in a row, Americans are less satisfied with their personal freedom than the rest of the world, including their peers in other wealthy, market-based economies,” reports the Gallup Poll in a new survey.

Specifically, Americans’ satisfaction “with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives” started falling after 2020, when it was 85 percent. Maybe that’s what happens when the government tries to tell you what kind of car you can drive.

Last year, only 72% of Americans said they were satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives.

This trend may soon reverse. The Big Beautiful Bill is nearing the finish. Hundreds of petty regulations from the flow of shower heads to restrictions on gas stoves have been swept away by Trump executive orders. The dismantling of the DEI culture in many parts of American life means people are more free to express themselves. It will be interesting to see if next year’s Gallup survey in the U.S. shows an increase in the number of people who believe freedom is on the rise.