In December 2019, most (58%) Americans said they were feeling optimistic about 2020.
That was before COVID-19 hit the United States, before there were thousands of protests calling for police reform, before murder hornets and the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter and an unprecedented drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, among other major events.
Are Americans still feeling optimistic? Perhaps surprisingly, yes. When asked about whether they were feeling generally optimistic or pessimistic about their life for the rest of 2020, 54 percent chose optimism.
In this poll of over 18,000 US adults, about one-third (34%) say they’re feeling pessimistic about what life will look like for the latter part of 2020.
Republicans (74%) are considerably more likely than Independents (51%) and Democrats (49%) to say they’re feeling optimistic about the next six months. Fewer than one in five (17%) Republicans feel pessimistic about what their lives will look like for the rest of 2020.
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Image: The Gender Spectrum Collection
