Our outlook keeps improving

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.

Why we asked: Each year we ask people to rate the year passed and the year ahead (we’ll get to the latter part next wave, in January).

What we found: For ourselves personally, our rating has consistently risen since we started the tracker in 2020, and this year it has plateaued at 6.3. But we rated higher for our immediate family (6.6, up from 6.4 last year), our community (6.3, up from 6.0 last year), the country (4.9, up from 4.6 last year), and our jobs (6.8, up from 6.6 last year). Interestingly, Democrats rated the year a 5.2 for the country vs 4.9 for Republicans. We’ll see if that shifts when we look forward to next year.

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

The holidays are making us happy, joyful and stressed 

Most people don’t know how tariffs work (and some even admit that)

Most think tariffs will increase prices, but aren’t doing anything about it

Here’s what we resolve for 2025

37 questions for 2025 and beyond