We are now into a new year, and that makes it time to consider -- was the year that just ended (2015) a good year or a bad one? It seems that it depends on whether you are asking if it was a good year in general, or a good year personally.
Most people think it was a bad year for the world (top chart). But they think it was a good year for themselves and their families (bottom chart).Why the difference? Probably because for ourselves, we rely on our own experience -- but for the world, we rely on what the media has told us. And the media reports mainly bad news ("if it bleeds, it leads"). The media is more concerned with ratings than actual news, so they report what they think people will tune in to watch, and people watch the tragedies that happen more than they watch the good things going on.
The charts were made from a recent YouGov Poll -- done between December 18th and 21st of a random national sample of 2,000 adults, with a margin of error of 3.1 points.
