Americans say 2023 was a good year, and think 2024 will be even better

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

It was a (comparatively) really good year

Why we asked: It’s that time again when we ask the Consumer Tracker how to reflect back on the year.

What we found: We think we had a really good year. The mean response was a 6.3 out of 10, up 0.4 from where we rated 2022 and the highest of the four years we have asked this. We also think our immediate families fared better (6.4 / 6.3 / 5.9 / 5.2) as did our jobs, up 0.1 to 6.6. Our communities were flat at 6.0. The country, however, dropped down to 4.6 from last year’s 4.8.

All things considered, that’s not too bad of a score card, given all of the negative headlines. But we are also feeling, it seems, the effects of low unemployment, falling inflation and other positive economic news such as the S&P 500 being up 750 points in 2023, as of this writing.

…And we think it will be a (comparatively) good 2024

Why we asked: It’s that time again when we ask the Consumer Tracker how think ahead to next year..

What we found: As is the pattern, we think we will have a better year than we rank the one we just had. We think we’ll give ourselves a 6.9 next year. Our immediate family will do even better at a 7.0. And our jobs will do even better than that with a whopping 7.1 projection. Despite the upcoming drama of the 2024 elections, we even think the country will rate over a 5, although in four years of tracking this we have never actually rated the nation’s year higher than a 4.8 in the end. We’ll see if (and how badly) we overshoot next year, but overall that’s a lot of optimism heading into the year. Let’s GO!

Here's how we resolve to make it a great 2024

Why we asked: As we’re making our New Year’s resolutions, we thought we’d see how the rest of America was planning to make 2024 different.

What we found: A sizable majority of Americans plan to make at least some resolutions for 2024. The most popular are about healthier behaviors like drinking more water (71%) and exercising more (70%) and eating healthier (68%). But expressing more gratitude (68%) and being more “present” (60%) are up there, too.

Fewer are looking to reduce their alcohol consumption generally or participate in “Dry January.” Overall, these are much larger numbers than when we asked last January (on Ipsos KnowledgePanel) what resolutions people had actually made. So are we resolving to have more resolve? Or is there a say-do gap not just in keeping to our resolutions but in terms of actually making them in the first place?

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

Shopping continues to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels

Some of Americans' concerns about AI are waning

Here's what the 2023 word of the year, 'authentic,' means for brands

Americans still know and care deeply about the war between Israel and Hamas