Americans Have Positive Outlook for new Year: Poll

A majority of Americans say they believe that 2002 will be better than the current year for both the nation as a whole and themselves personally, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said the United States would be in better shape as a nation in 2002, according to the survey conducted by polling firm Zogby International.

Nearly a third -- 30 percent -- said the situation in the country would remain the same and 16 percent said it would be worse.

When asked about their personal lives, 54 percent of those polled said they expected their personal lives to improve in 2002 as compared with this year.

Another 41 percent said they expected their lives to be about the same in the coming year, and only five percent said their personal lives would worsen in 2002.

About four in 10 Americans, or 38 percent, said they were optimistic about the national economic outlook for the coming year, but 26 percent said they expected the economy to take a further downturn.

Thirty-four percent said they expected things to remain the same.

Americans were less upbeat about their personal finances, with jjust 35 percent saying they expected them to improve in 2002, as compared with 51 percent who said they would remain unchanged.

Thirteen percent said their personal financial outlook would be worse in 2002.

The poll, conducted on December 17-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

(China Daily December 28, 2001)