Gallup: Pessimism reigns as Americans look toward future

The highest-earning Americans are also the least likely to be optimistic about the country’s future, newly released polling from Gallup found.

According to the polling outfit, fewer than half of Americans think the country’s current young people will have more success than their parents — the lowest figure on record for that question dating back to 1983.

Young people themselves had the most confidence that they would have a better life than their parents, while Republicans were about half as likely as Democrats to believe that would occur. 

The poll numbers come from a USA Today/Gallup survey, conducted between April 20 and 23. 

The percentage of Americans who believe it is either very or somewhat likely that today’s children will outpace their parents fell to 44 percent in that poll, down from 51 percent in October. 

Using information from other polling groups as well, Gallup not only found that to be the lowest number on record since 1983, but also substantially lower than it was during the heat of the financial crisis — 56 percent believed today’s youth would outdo their parents in December 2008, compared to 59 percent in March 2009.

For their part, those at the lowest income levels — less than $30,000 a year — were also the most likely to be confident about the future, with 52 percent having high hopes for today’s children.

More than half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 — 57 percent — also thought that the younger generation would have a better life than their parents. In general, young people are more optimistic about a range of issues than older Americans, Gallup noted. 

And breaking it down by political party, Democrats (60 percent) were far more optimistic on this issue than independents (41 percent) or Republicans (31 percent).