Most Americans fearful rather than hopeful about 2022: poll

WASHINGTON - The majority of Americans are more fearful and nervous about what the year 2022 holds in store for both their own country and the world, a recent poll showed.

The year-end Axios/Momentive poll showed 51 percent of respondents say they are more fearful about what lies ahead in the year 2022 for the United States and 54 percent feel the same about the world.

In addition, Americans are less hopeful about their own prospect in the New Year as well, as three in 10 say they are more fearful than hopeful about what lies ahead for them as individuals. That percentage reached an all-time high compared to the 25 percent who said the same in 2020 and 22 percent in 2018, the results showed.

While Republicans were more pessimistic than Democrats, both groups turned more negative about the coming year, the survey showed.

Finding themselves in an increasingly divisive and hostile political environment, Americans are quite concerned about politics, with 17 percent citing "democracy" as the most important issue, second only to "jobs and economy" at 31 percent.

Amid current concerns of inflation and economic woes, half of the respondents expect 2022 to be a bad year for the US economy.