A majority of Americans expect positive change in 2025 in a number of key areas—including employment prospects, inflation at reasonable levels, and the United States becoming more powerful—although optimism was tempered by expectations for overall economic difficulty, much international discord, and domestic political conflict.
The 2025 poll reflects a nuanced mixture of hope and concern regarding views about the nation’s trajectory across key sectors such as the economy, global influence, and domestic stability.
Clear partisan divides emerged in the findings, with broad majorities of Republicans foreseeing positive outcomes for the United States on all measures except political cooperation.
Notably, the percentage point shifts in each party’s predictions compared to 2023 revealed a striking trend: the relatively slight growth in Democratic pessimism about a year in which President-elect Donald Trump assumes office was outweighed by an explosion in Republican optimism, accompanied by a significant rise in optimism among independents. Together, these shifts led to a broader uplift in public confidence as 2025 approaches, according to Gallup.
Among the most optimistic predictions, 54 percent of Americans believe employment opportunities will increase in 2025, reflecting faith in job growth and a strengthening labor market. Similarly, 52 percent anticipate inflation will rise at a “reasonable” rate, signaling hope that prices will further stabilize after several years of volatility. The stock market is expected to be a particularly bright spot in the coming year, with 66 percent expecting 2025 to be bullish for equities.
Concerns about international discord were prevalent in the Gallup poll. While 52 percent of Americans expect U.S. power to grow in the coming year, 61 percent foresee strategic rival China getting stronger in 2025. At the same time, 67 percent anticipate a “troubled year with much international discord” ahead, which could reflect growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific, ongoing upheaval in the Middle East, and continued fighting between Russia and Ukraine with no immediate end in sight.
Republicans were particularly optimistic on economic prospects, with 80 percent or more expecting the stock market to rise, prices to grow at a reasonable pace, employment opportunities to improve, and taxes to fall. At the same time, 78 percent of Republicans expect general economic prosperity and 68 percent foresee that the federal budget deficit will decrease.
On the economy, a majority of independents were optimistic about the stock market (65 percent) and employment prospects (52 percent), with other categories in the 40-plus percent range except the deficit, where just 32 percent expressed a positive prediction. Democrat economic optimism ranged from a high of 46 percent regarding the stock market to a low of 14 percent with respect to expectations for the budget deficit to fall.
Republican optimism was also high in terms of international affairs as well as domestic political and societal affairs. The vast majority of Republicans (90 percent) expect America to increase its power in the world in 2025, while 63 percent predict a peaceful year, “more or less free of international disputes.”
Most (81 percent) expect falling crime rates and 76 percent expect fewer labor union strikes. Just 45 percent of Republicans are optimistic about political cooperation, however, with 18 percent of independents and just 8 percent of Democrats expecting positive outcomes in this regard.
Independent optimism in terms of domestic and international affairs ranged from 28 percent expecting a mostly peaceful 2025 on the low side, to 48 percent predicting growth in U.S. power on the high side.
Barely 8 percent of Democrats predict a strife-free 2025 while 31 percent expect fewer labor strikes, the highest reading among this group of respondents with regard to the remaining categories surveyed by Gallup.
