About two months into 2025, a YouGov survey asked Americans whether they’ve stuck to their New Year’s resolutions, if they made any at all; their views on 2025 so far; and whether they think the next decade will be better than the last one, worse, or the same.
28% of Americans said they made a New Year’s resolution for 2025. Most adults under 30 (55%) say they made a resolution or goal for the year; only 21% of older Americans say the same. That's largely consistent with what Americans said about making resolutions in December.
In the most recent polling, 15% of Americans say they have resolved to be happy. Identical shares say they are resolving to save money (15%) and eat healthier (15%). Other common resolutions for the year include improving physical health (14%), exercising more (13%), and improving mental health (11%). (Respondents could select any 2025 resolution they'd made.)
The most popular resolution heading into 2025 was saving more money, according to a December 9 - 11, 2024 YouGov survey. 26% of Americans said they were resolving to do this in 2025. 22% said they were resolving to improve their physical health, 22% resolved to exercise more, and 22% made being happy a 2025 resolution.
Among people who made New Year’s resolutions for 2025, 19% say they’ve stuck to them entirely. 59% say they’ve mostly stuck to their resolutions and only 13% say they’ve mostly given up on them. Less than 1% say they've entirely given up on them. 78% have mostly or entirely stuck to resolutions, up from 70% who said they had stuck to their 2024 resolutions at about the same time last year.
21% of Americans who made resolutions think that by the end of the year they will have stuck to them entirely. 55% think they will have mostly stuck to them, 10% think they will have mostly given up on them, and 4% think they will have given up on them entirely.
People with the most common 2025 resolutions are about equally likely to have stayed the course. Among people who set a 2025 resolution to be happy, 78% say they’ve mostly (57%) or entirely (21%) stuck to this goal. Among people who resolved to save more money, 80% have mostly (59%) or entirely (22%) stuck to this goal. 77% of people who set a goal of eating healthier have mostly (60%) or entirely (17%) stuck to this goal for 2025.
The survey also asked Americans about how 2025 has been so far and how they predict the next 10 years will go — both for themselves and for the country.
A majority (79%) say the year has been at least OK for them personally — including 39% who say it’s been OK, 27% who say it’s been good, and 13% who say 2025 has been a great year. Americans are about twice as likely to have a positive personal outlook on 2025 so far than a negative one. 11% say 2025 has been a bad year for them personally and 7% say it’s been terrible.
Fewer (54%) think 2025 has been at least OK for the country. 20% say it has been OK, 19% say it has been good, and 14% say it has been great. 16% say it has been bad. 25% say 2025 has been terrible for the country. Americans are about evenly split between positive and negative views about the year so far for the country.
Democrats (48%) are more likely than Independents (26%) — and far more likely than Republicans (2%) — to say 2025 has been a terrible year for the country.
Americans are likelier to be positive than negative in their personal outlook. 39% expect the upcoming decade will be better than the prior 10 years. 30% think the next 10 years will be about the same as the prior 10 years, and 17% think they will be worse.
Americans are evenly split, though, on the trajectory of the country. 35% of Americans think the next 10 years will be better for the country than the prior 10 years while 32% think it will be worse. 16% think it will be about the same.
About half (52%) of Democrats, along with 38% of Independents and 7% of Republicans, think the next 10 years will be worse for the country than the last 10 years were.
Republicans (58%) are more likely than Independents (36%) and Democrats (23%) to say they think the next 10 years will be better for them personally than the last 10 years were.
Related:
- What are Americans’ New Year’s resolutions for 2025?
- Two-thirds of Americans who made resolutions for 2024 say they have stuck to them so far
- What Democrats and Republicans thought of 2024 and what they expect in 2025
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted March 4 - 6, 2025, 2025 among 1,124 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Isabel Pavia)
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