Commentary

Why Are Americans So Pessimistic?

By Stephen Moore
Wednesday, October 07 2026

In nearly every way, Americans have more material wealth, better health, better housing and more of just about everything than ever before. Not just the rich, but nearly everyone. Americans' standard of living is roughly 50% higher, after inflation, than it was 50 years ago. The median family income is now close to $90,000. That's an income level higher than that of 90% of families living in the rest of the world. These ARE the good old days. Yet over the past 30 years, nearly every poll has shown that a plurality of Americans think things are "headed in the wrong direction" versus…

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Notable Quote

"Fake polls aren't always fake news.For the second time this year, a new pollster has been caught flat-out fabricating political survey data.In August, Median Strategies was exposed as bogus after claiming its published poll showed that socialist Francesca Hong had a 23-point lead in the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin. She lost.Now we learn that Wedgewood Polls, another new polling company…[more]

— Dan McLaughlin, Senior Writer at National Review

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