Turning The Page On The Worst Decade In 50 Years

According to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, Americans view the decade that is about to end today as “The worst decade in 50 years”. 50 percent of Americans have a negative impression of the past 10 years as opposed to a mere 27 percent which view the same time frame positively.

This is in sharp contrast to the public recollection of other decades in the past 50 years. In comparison, the overall impression of the 1960s is 34 percent positive to 15 percent negative; the 1970s is 40 percent positive to 16 percent negative; the 1980s is 56 percent positive to 12 percent negative; the 1990s is 57 percent positive to 19 percent negative.

As far as specific events standing out, the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks are seen as the most important event of the decade by 53 percent. President Obama’s election is a distant second at 16 percent, in 3RD is the 2008 financial crisis at 12 percent, and in 4TH is the election of George W. Bush in 2000 with 6 percent. The last figure is surprising considering that Bush, who was arguably one of the worst president in US history, was at the helm of America during most of the 2000s

“The sour view of the decade is broad based, with few in any political or demographic groups offering positive evaluation,” says the Pew report.

When asked to describe the 2000s in one word, the single most common word to characterize the past 10 years is “downhill” at 36 percent, and other bleak terms such as “poor” with 18 percent, “decline” with 17 percent and “chaotic” with 14 percent.

Overall, very few Americans will remember the Bush decade fondly. There are however a number of recent changes and trends that are viewed favorably, especially in the fields of technology and communication. The 4 on top of the list categorized by the survey as “change for the better” are: Cell phone with 69 percent; green products with 68 percent; email with 65 percent; the internet with 65 percent. On social trends, most Americans view “increasing racial and ethnic diversity as a change for the better” with 61 percent. What is concerning, in a show of prevalent fear and paranoia, is the fact that 58 percent of Americans view “increased surveillance and security as a change for the better”.

Americans will be happy to turn the page on the decade. Most Americans- 59 percent- think the next decade will be better than the current one. This perspective is widely shared across most political and demographic groups. However, a significant minority of 32 percent do not share this optimism and view that things will get worse in the 2010s than in the 2000s. Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats – 42 percent against 20 percent- to have a pessimistic assessment of the new decade.

To read the complete survey from the Pew Research Center click here.

On another note, all of us here at News Junkie Post want to wish you a great new year marking  the start of a brand new decade. We will do our very best to keep bringing you independent and original news and analysis that you don’t get from the big corporate media  outlets. Thanks for your support.