Majority of Americans say country’s best years are bygone, poll finds

(CN) — As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary this summer, a Pew Research Center survey released Friday reveals widespread pessimism about the nation’s future.

According to the poll, 59% of Americans say the country’s best years are behind us, while 40% believe the best days still lie ahead.

The survey of 3,560 adults, conducted in December 2025, found Americans were more pessimistic than optimistic about the country’s future over the next 50 years. Forty-four percent said they felt pessimistic, compared with 28% who felt optimistic, while 27% said they felt neither.

Views varied across demographic groups. Majorities of Black adults (66%), Hispanic adults (64%) and white adults (57%) said the country’s best years have passed, along with 53% of Asian adults. Lower- and middle-income Americans were especially pessimistic, with 61% in each group holding that view, while upper-income adults were evenly divided.

Politically, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (64%) were more likely than Republicans and GOP-leaning voters (53%) to say the country’s best years are behind it. The pattern has reversed since 2014, when attitudes more closely tracked which party controlled Washington.

In a brief phone interview Friday, Pew Director of Social Trends Research Kim Parker said the report offers a broad snapshot of how Americans view the country’s past, present and future ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Parker said Americans have generally grown more pessimistic than hopeful over the past decade, with views sharply divided along party lines. She added that while control of Washington influences public outlook, it does not erase broader anxieties about the country’s direction.

“I would say that’s a significant shift towards a more negative orientation,” she said, adding there were meaningful differences across racial and income groups and some of those patterns can be linked to partisan affiliation. “Republicans aren’t feeling great about the future, even though their party is in control now. So, I think that speaks to some deeper kind of concerns and anxiety that people have about lots of different issues and trends in the country and in the world.”

Parker said the survey was intended to measure Americans’ overall mood rather than views on specific issues, and that shifting attitudes likely reflect a mix of political leadership, economic conditions and global events. She pointed to upcoming Pew studies on demographic and economic change and political identity as further insight into how Americans are thinking during the nation’s anniversary period.

The findings were released alongside a broader Pew Research Center report examining how the United States has changed since the 1976 bicentennial. The report found that while the population has grown from about 120 million to 340 million and living standards have improved for many Americans, divisions by education, race and income have deepened alongside major demographic and social changes.

The research highlights ongoing challenges in areas like economic opportunity, social cohesion and national direction.

Despite the gloomy outlook, some Americans remain hopeful. Younger adults and higher-income respondents were more likely to see brighter days ahead.

“They are kind of few and far between,” Parker said.

Pew researchers noted that these perceptions reflect the political climate of the moment and may shift over time. The survey was conducted before recent major events that could further influence public sentiment.

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