NEWNow you can hearken to Fox Information articles!
As 2025 winds down, voters’ outlook on the yr ending has improved, not solely in comparison with 2024, but additionally year-over-year since 2020. Nearly half say this was a very good yr for them personally, at the same time as fewer, round one-third, say it was good for the nation, based on the most recent Fox Information survey launched Friday. Although issues persist, equivalent to the way forward for the nation and affording vacation items, the upward shift displays a gradual rebound in optimism because the pandemic-era lows.
Almost half of voters, 45%, say 2025 was a very good yr for them. That’s up from 40% final yr, and the very best since 2019 when it was 47%. On the identical time, 54% say this was a nasty yr for his or her household, up from 50% final yr.
FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SOUND ALARM ON HEALTHCARE COSTS
A record-low – 23% stated 2020 was a very good yr for his or her household. The truth is, the 2020 pandemic was the primary time in virtually a decade that the query veered to the damaging: from 2012 to 2019, voters felt extra optimistic than damaging.
Whereas nonetheless largely internet damaging, views on how the nation fared in 2025 are additionally rosier than in recent times. Thirty-five p.c say it was a very good yr for the U.S., up from 28% final yr. Two-thirds assume it was a nasty yr for the nation — a quantity that has held regular since 2022 and went as excessive as 78% in 2020.
FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY GO SLOW ON AI DEVELOPMENT — BUT DON’T KNOW WHO SHOULD STEER
Republicans (65% their household, 63percentof the nation) are extra probably than Democrats (28%, 9%) and independents (39%, 28%) to be upbeat about 2025 and say it was a very good yr personally and nationally.
Positivity amongst Republicans (+31 factors for his or her household, +44 factors for the nation) and independents (+6, +7) is up since 2024, whereas scores have fallen for Democrats (-22, -33).
“Clearly, many of the shifts from 2024 to 2025 are as a result of how partisans have reacted to the change from a Democratic to a Republican administration,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps conduct Fox Information surveys with Democratic companion Chris Anderson. “It’s not a lot that costs have modified or wages have moved, it’s that Republicans really feel higher with their man within the White Home and Democrats really feel worse.”
Evaluations of 2025 are extra favorable amongst males than ladies, college-educated voters than these with out a diploma, and households incomes $50,000 or greater than these with decrease incomes.
Voters are divided, nevertheless, on the U.S.’s future: 48% are hopeful whereas 52% usually are not, yielding a internet damaging 4 factors — a reversal from a +10 optimistic ranking final yr (55% hopeful, 45% not hopeful).
Nonetheless, these numbers are higher than in 2021 (when the query was first requested), when 43% felt hopeful about what was subsequent and 54% didn’t (-11 internet damaging ranking).
Simply as views of the previous differ by political occasion, expectations in regards to the future do, too. Three-quarters of Republicans really feel hopeful about what’s forward, whereas three-quarters of Democrats say they’re not. Independents are additionally damaging, with about 6 in 10 missing hopefulness.
And though Republicans felt good about 2025, optimism for the longer term is down 11 factors in comparison with 86% final yr, whereas Democratic and unbiased pessimism stays as excessive — or larger — than it was in 2024.
That is the reverse of 4 years in the past, when about 6 in 10 Democrats had been hopeful, whereas roughly 7 in 10 Republicans and 6 in 10 independents weren’t.
Yet another factor…
With the vacation season in full swing, so is customers’ anxiousness as greater than half are nervous about how they’ll pay for items this yr (52%) whereas barely lower than half usually are not (48%).
Concern is highest amongst mothers (68%), voters below 30 (68%), Hispanic voters (66%), ladies with out a faculty diploma (64%), and households incomes below $50,000 (62%).
These monetary pressures might assist clarify why most voters (81%) say it’s not less than generally okay to re-gift one thing they got: 62% really feel it’s generally okay, whereas 19% say it’s at all times acceptable. Some 19% assume it’s by no means okay.
Acceptance of re-gifting has grown since 2013, when 73% stated it was not less than generally okay and one-quarter stated it was by no means acceptable.
White ladies, voters below age 45, these with a graduate diploma, dad and mom, and Republicans are amongst these most probably to say re-gifting is suitable immediately.
Carried out December 12-15, 2025, below the route of Beacon Analysis (D) and Shaw & Firm Analysis (R), this Fox Information survey contains interviews with a pattern of 1,001 registered voters randomly chosen from a nationwide voter file. Respondents spoke with dwell interviewers on landlines (116) and cellphones (630) or accomplished the survey on-line after receiving a textual content (255). Outcomes based mostly on the complete pattern have a margin of sampling error of ±3 share factors. Sampling error for outcomes amongst subgroups is larger. Along with sampling error, query wording and order can affect outcomes. Weights are usually utilized to age, race, training, and space variables to make sure the demographics are consultant of the registered voter inhabitants. Sources for creating weight targets embody the newest American Group Survey, Fox Information Voter Evaluation, and voter file knowledge.
