A majority of those Americans who answered questions in an annual telephone inquiry appear to have given up hope for 2022, surrendering to pessimism and nervousness, an Axios-Momentive year-end poll has suggested.
Over half of respondents said they were worried about what the upcoming year has for both the United States (51%) and the world (54%). Additionally, adults in the poll seem to have "less hope for themselves", with 30% of participants more fearful about their own 2022 prospects.
Half of respondents also said they expect 2022 to be a bad year for the US economy.
Researchers also wondered what words people are sick of and do not want to hear in the upcoming year. It turned out that about 3 in 10 (35%) said they don't want to hear about COVID-19. The word "Trump" was also among those least welcome to hear in 2022, along with "Biden", "Donald", "coronavirus", "people" and "pandemic".
Over 60% of Americans who answered questions in the telephone survey seem to be hopeful about what 2022 holds for the pandemic. These numbers, however, have weakened compared to last year's poll, when some 76% of those joining the survey expected the pandemic to retreat.
When asked to describe the outgoing year and how it has been, poll participants largely used the words "exhausting" (43%), "worrisome" (43%), "chaotic" (31%), "hectic" (21%) and even "hellish" (18%). Only a small group of participants had a "great" (14%), "awesome" (8%) or "epic" (5%) year.
The results show a stark contrast to the previous year's summary in the Axios-Momentive poll: back when the world was only getting ready for 2021, the year was viewed as a breath of fresh air, with almost all groups united in optimism for what's coming.
Now, on the verge of 2022, the negativity, according to pollsters, seems to bring together even incompatible things. Last year, Republicans were more pessimistic about the future, but now all three groups - the GOP, the Democrats and Independents are - according to the poll - united in grim expectations (69%, 45% and 47%, respectively).