A new AP-AOL News Poll finds that while most Americans said 2006 was a bad year for the country, three-fourths thought it had been a good one for them and their families. Seven in 10 Americans feel good about what 2007 will bring for the country, and nearly 90 percent are optimistic about the new year for them and their families.It's just human nature, isn't it? And it's not a bad thing either. You feel suspicious and critical about the government -- and you should. But then, as a healthy, balanced person, you trust things will work out all right.
A Washington Post-ABC News Poll found similar sentiments about 2007. More than 60 percent of the public said it would be a good year for protecting against terrorist attacks, the state of the national economy and “the way things are going in this country.”
By contrast, more than six in 10 Americans tell pollsters the country is on the “wrong track.” Bush’s polls ratings are reaching historical lows. And most Americans don’t think the U.S. is winning in Iraq, according to a variety of surveys.
January 5, 2007
Why are Americans pessimistic and optimistic simultaneously?
It's a mystery:
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21 comments:
yeah, what Gerry said!
even less typing ;)
Night is day, indeed. Goebbels would be so proud.
"You feel suspicious and critical about the government -- and you should." -- Libertarianism in a nutshell.
But yeah, government is necessary and natural.
Taking a good idea too far is bad.
Libertarianism itself is good.
Ditto. Not matter how good our lives are going the media tells us otherwise so we end up schizophrenic. Well, not me, I don't trust a thing the main stream media says.
The upside is now that the Dems are in charge we should be hearing all sorts of good news so the polls will all even out.
Except for that Bush/Iraq War thing, of course. That's bad and won't be good until a Dem is elected president and then we will suddenly be winning.
Let the partisanship fly . . .
I think (yes I do think) that it has more to do with a complex life. There are a lot of positives in the workplace right now and there are a lot of good opportunities because the richy-riches of the world can't find anything to do with their money...and there is a lot of bad bad bad news looming on the horizon so we poor middle class get up each day and open the mail and its a lady or the tiger.
yeah, what Gerry said!
Woe is MEdia
This is the same reason the Consumer Confidence Index is usualy rubbish. How many times have we heard the index shows consumers rate the economy as poor, yet the actual monetary indicators show those very same consumers are spending like... well, congress! The economy is measured by the flow of money through the wallet, not the eddies and tides of public opinion.
I think we have become a nation which whines a bit too much. Disdain and resentment are the new national moods.
The polls suggest we only see these traits in others because as you know I am just a genuinely upbeat and cheerful individual.
... Oh, and of coarse things are predicted to get better this year - Democrats are in charge!
Always look on the bright side of life.
The song says nothing about the bright side of Government. Is there one?
One nice thing about comment moderation among the many negatives is that when the comment does go up, we can say "Althouse approved this message."
we can say "Althouse approved this message."
You can do that, I agree. I sincerely doubt it would be accurate, however.
Hdhouse lamented:
"..and there is a lot of bad bad bad news looming on the horizon so we poor middle class get up each day and open the mail and its a lady or the tiger."
The goods news is more and more of this mail is on re-cyclable paper.
"One nice thing about comment moderation among the many negatives is that when the comment does go up, we can say "Althouse approved this message."
To which Internet Ronin said...
"You can do that, I agree. I sincerely doubt it would be accurate, however."
Accurate? Yes. Misleading? Also yes.
Couldn't it be that if 2006 was actually bad for 25% of Americans and their families, that some portion of the other 75% might justifiably say that it had been a bad year for the country? I mean, aren't "bad year" and "on the wrong track" implicitly relative judgments?
That said, I find it most heartening that at least 60% of those who had a bad 2006 are optimistic about 2007. As far as I'm concerned, that shows some grit.
24 hour news, and cell phones are frying our branes
Cat said: "So the show was meant to be one of Oprah's "eye opening" downers about the haves and the have nots who are so screwed, but then she disproves her own point."
Which is kind of ironic, considering how Oprah herself rose from poverty to become one of the richest women in the world and one of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry.
Touche, John Kindley: You are right on both points, and that reminds of the discussion on another thread here about deceptive and misleading and their respective meanings.
I'm reading a book on the Iwo Jima campaign, and a corpsman who was there remarked later that every man who landed thought he would survive; it would be some other poor sod who got hit. Same thing. Each man recognized the statistics but thought he personally would beat 'em.
You could call it self-delusion or you could call it optimism, and either way recognize it as a remarkably powerful American trait.
"I think a lot of it has to do with reporting."
Hilarious. It's always the media's fault with you people, isn't it?
1) You see this tendency in other countries, too.
2) It's not a mystery, and it's not mostly induced by media, I bet -- it is deeply human. *I* will get by, *I* will survive, no matter how many reports on accidents or diseases or killings we run into.
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