Poll: Americans hopeful for a better year in 2014

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131226/DAAUBLG00.html

By JENNIFER AGIESTA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Large number of Americans see 2013 as anything but a banner year and aren't reluctant to wave goodbye on New Year's Eve, a new AP-Times Square poll says, reflecting anxiety stretching from the corridors of power in Washington to corporate boardrooms, statehouses, and city and town halls.

Although the poll shows that people generally are looking forward to the new year with optimism and no blatant sense of foreboding, it also unmasks pent-up worries about international crises and instability, and concerns at home about the standard of living, health care and schools.

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What the public thought of 2013:

GOOD YEAR OR GOOD RIDDANCE?

On the whole, Americans rate their own experience in 2013 more positively than negatively. But when asked to assess the year for the United States or the world at large, things turn sour.

FULL story at link.



Graphic shows selected results of 2014 New Years Eve poll; 2c x 10 inches; 96.3 mm x 254 mm;