Adult Democrats are far more pessimistic than Republicans, regardless of whether they’re assessing the outlook for the quality of life, the economy, government or the next generation, a new survey by The Economist/YouGov finds.
The national survey of U.S. adult citizens, conducted August 21-24, asked a series of questions to gauge the degree of optimism on various topics. In each case, Democrats expressed significantly more pessimism than Independents and, especially, Republicans.
In the broadest question, the poll asked citizens how they felt “generally” about “the future as far as you personally are concerned?”
Just one in four Democrats (25%) said they were “generally optimistic” about their overall future, compared to 59% of Republicans. Conversely, nearly half (47%) of Democrats said they were “generally pessimistic,” while only 23% felt the same.
Other questions asked about optimism about the future of “the following things for the next ten or twenty years”:
- “Our System of Government”
- “The Nation’s Economy”
- “The Quality of Life in this Country”
- “Your Own Quality of Life”
- “The Quality of Life for the Next Generation”
Regarding the outlook for the nation’s system of government, just 18% of Democrats voiced optimism. In contrast, 52% of Republicans expressed optimism, including 17% who said they were “very optimistic.”
Likewise, economic optimism was reported by 22% of Democrats and more than twice as many (55%) of Republicans. Again, 17% of Republicans said they were very optimistic.
In the quality-of-life questions, Democrats were more negative than Republicans in their expectations for the nation as a whole, the next generation and themselves, personally:
Optimistic About the Quality of Life in this Country:
- GOP: 60% (19% “very”)
- Dem: 22% (6% “very”)
Optimistic About Own Quality of Life:
- GOP: 65% (28% “very”)
- Dem: 49% (11% “very”)
Optimistic About Quality of Life for the Next Generation:
- GOP: 45% (15%)
- Dem: 18% (3% “very”)
