{"id":8641,"date":"2022-01-25T13:58:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:58:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:12","slug":"americans-broadly-negative-about-the-state-of-the-nation-but-most-see-a-better-year-ahead","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2022\/01\/25\/americans-broadly-negative-about-the-state-of-the-nation-but-most-see-a-better-year-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans broadly negative about the state of the nation, but most see a better year ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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(Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Facing successive waves of the coronavirus and an uncertain economy, the public enters 2022 largely dissatisfied about the way things are going in the United States and fearful about the state of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, a majority of U.S. adults (61%) are optimistic that the new year will be better than the year that just ended, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public satisfaction with national conditions remains low. Just 21% say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, while 78% are dissatisfied. The share expressing satisfaction with the state of the nation is down slightly since September (26%) and down 12 percentage points since last March (from 33%). The new survey also finds that the public\u2019s views of the national economy<\/a> remain mostly negative and that majorities continue to view the coronavirus as a major threat to the economy and public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, only small shares of both Democrats and Republicans (and those who lean to each party) say they are satisfied with the way things are going \u2013 though Democrats are nearly three times as likely as Republicans to have a positive view (29% vs. 10%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency, majorities of Republicans were satisfied with national conditions, compared with fewer than a quarter of Democrats. But by the summer of 2020, amid the spread of the coronavirus and criminal justice protests, members of both parties were largely negative toward national conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>