Americans are far too pessimistic about the future

The start of the new year is often a time of optimism. But look at surveys from the past few months and you will find that strikingly high numbers of Americans — sometimes around three-quarters of those polled — think America is on the wrong track. This profound sense of despair is perplexing because I don’t find much objective data to support it.

The U.S. economy grew an astonishing 5.2% in the third quarter of 2023, and the International Monetary Fund expects growth for last year to be 2.1%, which is substantially better than other advanced Western economies such as Canada, Germany and Britain. Inflation is dropping sharply, real wages are up and manufacturing employment is experiencing a boom. It is hard to find another country where so many measures are pointing in the right direction.

Email: fareed.zakaria.gps@turner.com.

Read the full opinion at The Washington Post.