Dem
47
GOP
53
Politico commissioned a poll from Public First about how Americans feel about the country. The results are very disheartening. For starters, 49% of Americans think the country's best times are in the past vs. 41% who say they are in the future. However, this is very polarized, with Kamala Harris voters much more pessimistic than Donald Trump voters:
Slightly more than half of Harris voters (51%) say the U.S. is not a functioning democracy whereas a bare minimum of Trump voters (52%) say it is. We have never seen this question polled before, but we suspect that in the 1950s and 1960s, large majorities would say that it was a democracy. A solid majority of Harris voters (70%) say the quality of life in the U.S. is worse now than 5 years ago—during COVID, racial justice protests, and a contentious presidential election.
Additionally, 46% of Americans think the American dream is dead (vs. 26% who think it is alive). Among 18-24 year olds, 55% think it is dead (vs. 15% who think it is alive). It gets more optimistic with each successive age bracket, but even among seniors, "dead" beats "alive" 36% to 31%.
What is especially interesting is that 52% of adults say we need radical change (vs. 32% who want only small changes). With 18-24 year olds, it is 64% to 23% in favor of radical change. Seniors are about even. It is a sad picture. (V)