Fox News Poll: Voters view 2024 negatively but have hope for the future

The 2024 presidential election dominated the news cycle this year and not only are a majority of voters feeling hopeful about the outcome, but they are also increasingly hopeful for the future of the country. And while half feel it was a bad year, the number saying it was good is the highest it has been since 2020 (at the end of the first year of the pandemic).

When it comes to the future of the country, 55% are extremely or very hopeful for what’s ahead. That is up 2 points since 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, optimism about the country’s future increased by 10 points. The question was not asked in 2023.

Overall, 45% are not very or not at all hopeful.

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The current numbers are driven by partisan divides — overwhelming majorities of Republicans are hopeful for the future of the country (86%), while majorities of Democrats (72%) and Independents (54%) are not.

In 2021, things were reversed among the partisans, although to a lesser degree, with 6 in 10 Democrats saying they were hopeful, while 7 in 10 Republicans and 6 in 10 Independents saying they were not.  

“Since the 1990s, attitudes toward the future are strongly correlated with partisanship,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “Even so, there’s more general optimism this year than we’ve seen in a while, as the fear and rancor of the past few years seems to be waning.”

Looking back on 2024, 4 in 10 (40%) say it was a good year for their family, while half (50%) say it was a bad year for a net rating of -10. That’s an improvement from -14 last year (39% good, 53% bad) and substantially better than in 2020, when it was underwater by 44 points (23% good, 67% bad). From 2012 to 2019, more voters felt positive about their year than negative. 

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By a 36-point margin, voters say 2024 was a bad year for America overall (28% good vs. 64% bad), but that’s better than 2020’s 65-point net negative rating (13% good, 78% bad). Since 2018, when the question was first asked, views on the country’s end-of-year report card have been in a deficit. 

Democrats (50% their family, 42% the country) are more likely than Republicans (34%, 19%) and Independents (33%, 21%) to feel 2024 was a good year for them and the country.

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Another hopeful note…

Half of voters say “hopeful” describes how they feel about the 2024 presidential results (54%) — the highest of any other feeling including relieved (50%), surprised (50%), excited (48%), scared (46%), depressed (40%), and angry (39%).

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Conducted December 6-9, 2024 under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,015 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (125) and cellphones (699) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (191). Results based the full registered voter sample has a margin of sampling error of ± 3 percentage points. Sampling error associated with results among subgroup is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.