Survey: Americans Cynical About Future

Is the United States already past its prime?

According to a recent national poll conducted by Rasmussen, 48% of Americans seem to think so.

And they’re not that optimistic about politicians or society either. From the report:

The survey also confirmed the ongoing decline in confidence about America’s future. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans believe that our nation’s best days are still to come while 48% think they have come and gone. Those figures reflect a sharp decline in confidence over the past two years. Confidence has also fallen sharply concerning the War on Terror.

The survey also found that 11% of those polled actually think outgoing legislators have done a good job, while 33% believe America is unfair and discriminatory.

There is no data for individual states, and the poll was performed in early December.

Even with an incoming Democratic majority, a good number of Americans to not appear to be hopeful about the future.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.