Americans Optimistic for 2025
Election years can bring out the worst in people, as friendships are broken and familial bonds are stressed over political disagreements. However, with the 2024 elections in the rearview mirror, the latest polls indicate that Americans are now hopeful for what 2025 has in store.
In the latest Fox News poll, taken Dec. 6-9 with 1,015 registered voters, 55% said they are very or extremely hopeful for the country’s future. (The optimism largely fell along party lines, with 86% of Republicans being hopeful, while only 27% of Democrats and 46% of independents said the same.) Total optimism is up from Dec. 2022, when only 53% said they were hopeful, and Dec. 2021, before the midterms, when 43% said they were hopeful for the following year.
Looking back, only 28% said 2024 was a “good year” for the country, while the majority, 64%, said 2024 was a bad year. People were slightly more positive when asked about 2024 for their own family, with 40% saying it was a good year and 50% saying it was bad.
Economic optimism is also high relative to the last few years. Currently, only 28% say that the economy is “excellent” or “good,” according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll taken Dec. 21-24. Similarly, only 14% said that they are better off financially than they were a year ago, while 41% said they are worse off than a year ago.
However, looking into the future, 37% said they think they will be better off financially in a year than they are now, while only 19% said they believe they will be worse off. Financial markets indicate similar trends, with the S&P 500 up over 4% since the election, and cryptocurrency markets also gaining in recent weeks, with the price of Bitcoin rising from $68,000 on Election Day to around $95,000 on Thursday.
The hopeful sentiment also applies to more than just the next year. When asked whether America will be better or worse off in four years than it is now, 45% said better, and only 33% said worse. The optimism was even greater for individuals, with only 19% saying they expect to be worse off in four years, and 44% saying they expect to be doing better.
Americans are also optimistic about the state of the world in 2025, with 45% saying they are very or somewhat optimistic “about what kind of year 2025 will be for the world,” while only 30% are pessimistic.
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