I wonder if there would be a correlation if they asked "Do you think of yourself as a Texan (or whichever state) first or an American first. I would bet a lot more Texans identify with state more than country.
We’re very weird in Texas. Despite the failures of our politicians, many residents have really strong positive feelings about our state because of the size and variety of options available - other than abortion and education funding of course. Each city/area has it’s own Identity, landscape, history, and culture which creates sort of a nationalism, even though there’s often animosity between them - Dallas and fort Worth hate each other because fort Worth is full of rednecks and Dallas thinks it’s so fucking cosmopolitan. Most of us are disgusted by the Texas we see on the news and wish the rest of the world could see big bend, Hill country, the piney woods, Palo duro canyon, and the Texas Coast.
The Texas in the news is the one that affects people’s quality of life. Nature is great, but nature won’t protect you from hostile legislators, and you can find amazing nature in almost every state (hence why that aspect doesn’t warrant news coverage). I wouldn’t be surprised if Texas GOP legislators eventually sell off that beautiful nature, or remove protections for it, to get kickbacks from whatever company wants to exploit it in the coming years.
I maintain that Texans who love Texas because it’s Texas have rose-colored glasses and remember a past time when it used to be a pretty nice place to live, overall.
