These charts are from a recent Morning Consult Poll -- done between December 7th and 10th of a national sample of 2,202 adults, with a 2 point margin of error.
Did things get better in 2018 than they were in 2017? If you are a Republican, then you probably think 2018 was an improvement. About 58% said things got better, while only 19% said 2018 was worse. About 55% expect 2019 to be even better than 2018.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats did not agree. Only 17% said 2018 was an improvement over 2017, while 51% said it was worse. About 28% expect 2019 to be better, while 35% expect it to be worse than 2018.
But what do all adults think (Independents, Democrats, and Republicans combined). Only 33% said 2018 was an improvement over 2017, while 36% said it was worse. They do have some hope for improvement in 2019 though -- with 38% saying it will be better and 26% saying it will be worse.
For me, the second chart is the most interesting. It asks respondents if 2018 was an improvement over 2017 in each of the issues facing the country. As expected, Republicans said yes on nearly every issue and Democrats said no. The telling column is the one showing what all adults think.
The chart shows those who think things got better minus those who think things got worse. On the economy, all adults were equal -- meaning they think the economy got neither better nor worse. The one area they think got better was unemployment (+12). On all the other issues, they think things got worse in 2018 than they were in 2017.
Was 2018 a great year? Most in this country don't believe it was. Can 2019 be an improvement? We can only hope. But it's unlikely with Trump still in the White House and Republicans still controlling the Senate.
