Voters finished 2025 feeling a bit better about their own lives than they did a year ago, even if they still worry about the nation’s direction and holiday bills. Personal optimism climbed to its best level since 2019, but national ratings remain largely negative and divided sharply along party lines. Shoppers are anxious about affording gifts, and attitudes about re-gifting show Americans adjusting to tighter budgets. The survey also shows stark differences in future outlook between Republicans and Democrats.
Nearly half of registered voters, 45%, say 2025 was a good year for them personally, up from 40% last year and approaching pre-pandemic highs. That shift reflects a steady rebound from the pandemic-era lows when 2020 sank to record-negative territory for families. At the same time, a slight majority still judge the year for their household as bad, showing the recovery is real but incomplete. People feel better about their own pocketbooks than they do about the country as a whole.
When asked about the country, only about a third see 2025 as a good year for the U.S., though that’s an improvement from the low point in 2024. Two-thirds continue to view the year as bad for the nation, a mood that has been stubborn since 2020. Those national judgments track economic concerns, media narratives, and the partisan lens voters use to evaluate leadership. In short, personal confidence is outpacing faith in national performance.
Partisan splits dominate the story: Republicans are much more upbeat than Democrats and independents about both personal and national results. Republicans report the biggest gains in positive ratings, while Democrats’ ratings declined notably compared to 2024. Independents moved a bit more positive on personal assessments, but remain cautious about the country. These differences make clear that party allegiance shapes how people interpret the same economic environment.
“Obviously, most of the shifts from 2024 to 2025 are due to how partisans have reacted to the change from a Democratic to a Republican administration,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps conduct Fox News surveys with Democratic partner Chris Anderson. This exact phrasing highlights what many voters themselves admit: perceptions track power as much as pocketbook changes. For Republican readers, the takeaway is straightforward — political control matters for how voters judge the year’s outcome.
Hope for the future is a mixed bag. Nationwide, optimism about what comes next slipped into a slight net negative, reversing last year’s positive tilt. Republicans remain far more hopeful about the future, while Democrats overwhelmingly express gloom, and most independents fall closer to the pessimistic side. That split suggests the short-term political environment will keep influencing how people think about tomorrow.
Holiday finances are front and center for many voters as the season hits. More than half say they worry about paying for gifts, with the anxiety higher among moms, younger voters, Hispanic households, and lower-income families. Those pressures help explain why a large majority now accepts re-gifting at least sometimes, a cultural shift tied to tighter household budgets. Practical adjustments like re-gifting are becoming more mainstream as people look for ways to stretch limited dollars.
Demographic patterns are predictable but telling: men, college-educated voters, and households earning $50,000 or more report better evaluations of 2025 than their counterparts. Younger voters and those with lower incomes show the most strain, particularly when it comes to holiday spending worries. The data paint a familiar map — economic confidence rises with education and income, while younger and lower-income groups remain vulnerable. These patterns will matter in campaigns and policy debates as candidates address cost-of-living concerns.
The poll was conducted December 12-15, 2025, with 1,001 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Interviews were completed by live interviewers on landlines and cellphones or online after receiving a text, and the overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Subgroup results carry larger error margins, and standard caveats about question wording and weighting apply. The methodology confirms these are representative snapshots of how Americans felt as the year closed out.
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