New year, new country? Not the way most Americans see it, according to Gallup. Given the partisan politics and economic struggles of 2022, a new poll finds Americans are "largely pessimistic" about the state of the US in the coming year. Some 80% expect economic difficulty, with tax increases and a growing federal deficit; 85% expect international discord; and 90% expect internal political conflict, per the Washington Times. In the web survey of 1,803 members of Gallup's probability-based panel, 72% said the crime rate would climb, 72% said China's power would increase, and 64% said the US would decline as a global power.
There was only one of 13 areas in which a majority of Americans expected what the Times calls "a positive outcome," meaning a decline in Russia's power, with 62% predicting that would occur in 2023. This is "likely a reflection of that country's recent setbacks in its war against Ukraine," Gallup said. Otherwise, "Americans are greeting 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that closed out 2022 will abate." More than 60% of respondents said consumer prices would continue to rise at a "high rate" and the stock market would continue its fall. More than 50% said unemployment would increase and 56% predicted "many strikes by labor unions."
Republicans were more pessimistic than Democrats, though, with "Democrats more likely than Republicans to offer positive predictions for all of the dimensions," per Gallup. "This is a typical phenomenon whereby Americas who identify with the sitting president's party are more positive in general in their outlook for the year ahead." Some 69% of Democrats predicted full or increasing employment (compared to 23% of Republicans), 56% expected an increase in US power (compared to 11%), 53% expected the stock market to rise (compared to 15%), and 53% predicted a reasonable rise in prices (compared to 16%). The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. (More Gallup poll stories.)
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