The 2024 presidential election have dominated the news cycle this year, and a majority of voters are not only confident about the outcome, but they are also increasingly hopeful about the future of the country. And while half think it was a bad year, the number of respondents saying it was good is the highest it has been since 2020 (at the end of the first year of the pandemic).
When it comes to the future of the country, 55% of respondents are extremely or very hopeful about the future. That’s an increase of 2 points since 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, optimism about the country’s future increased by 10 points. The question was not asked in 2023.
Overall, 45% are not very or not at all hopeful.
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The current numbers are due to party political differences – an overwhelming majority republican are hopeful about the country’s future (86%), while majorities of Democrats (72%) and independents (54%) are not.
In 2021, it was the other way around among partisans, although to a lesser extent, at 6 in 10 Democrats said they were hopeful, while 7 in 10 Republicans and 6 in 10 independents said they were not hopeful.
“Since the 1990s, attitudes toward the future have been strongly correlated with partisanship,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “Nevertheless, there is more general optimism this year than ever before, as the fear and resentment of recent years appears to be easing.”
Looking back on 2024, 4 in 10 (40%) say it was a good year for their family, while half (50%), with a net rating of -10, say it was a bad year. That’s an improvement from -14 last year (39% good, 53% bad) and significantly better than 2020, when it was 44 points underwater (23% good, 67% bad). From 2012 to 2019, more voters viewed their year positively than negatively.
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By a 36-point margin, voters say 2024 was a bad year for America overall (28% good vs. 64% bad), but that’s better than 2020’s net negative rating of 65 points (13% good, 78% bad). Since 2018, when the question was first asked, views on the country’s annual financial statements have been negative.
Democrats (50% their family, 42% the country) are more likely than republican (34%, 19%) and Independents (33%, 21%) felt 2024 was a good year for them and the country.
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Another hopeful note…
Half of voters say “hopeful” describes how they feel about the 2024 presidential results (54%). The highest of all other feelings, including relief (50%), surprise (50%), excitement (48%), fear (46). %), depressed (40%) and angry (39%).
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This Fox News poll was conducted December 6-9, 2024 under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) and includes interviews with a sample of 1,015 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file became. Respondents spoke to live interviewers on landlines (125) and cell phones (699) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (191). Results based on the full sample of registered voters have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. The sampling error associated with the results in the subgroup is higher. In addition to sampling errors, the wording and order of questions can also influence the results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure that respondent demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight goals include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.
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