Half of Americans are calling 2021 the “worst year of their lives so far,” according to a new poll.
The survey of 1,000 adults — conducted by OnePoll on Dec. 13 — found that 53 percent said it had been a very unpleasant year for them. However, seven in 10 have high hopes that 2022 will be an improvement over the previous year.
Millennials (ages 25 to 40) were the most dismissive of 2021, with 66 percent saying it was a tough year. Sixty-two percent of Gen Zers (ages 18 to 24) and 43 percent of Gen Xers (ages 41 to 56) also shared that 2021 wasn’t their best year, while 56 percent of boomers (ages 57+) disagreed entirely—only 22 percent either strongly or somewhat agreed it was the worst year of their lives.
When asked about their overall outlook on life, nearly eight in 10 of those surveyed (78 percent) described themselves as optimists. Meanwhile, 61 percent also identified as idealists, who “envision things as they could be,” while 19 percent preferred to be realists, who “see things as they are.”
Of those polled, male respondents considered themselves more optimistic (83 percent vs. 75 percent) and more idealistic (67 percent vs. 57 percent) than female respondents. Three-quarters of men (75 percent) also reported being hopeful for 2022, compared to only two-thirds of women (67 percent).
