Ninety percent of Americans expect 2023 will be a year of political conflict in the US, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.
Amid rising political animosity, US-based pollster Gallup said nine in 10 Americans said they expect to see political conflict this year.
“72% think the crime rate will rise, and 56% predict there will be many strikes by labor unions,” it added.
According to the firm, Americans are entering the new year “with a mostly gloomy outlook” for the US, and most people have negative expectations for 12 out of 13 economic, political, societal, and international areas.
On the economy, about eight in 10 US adults think 2023 will be a year of economic difficulty with higher rather than lower taxes and a growing rather than shrinking budget deficit.
“More than six in 10 think prices will rise at a high rate and the stock market will fall in the year ahead, both of which happened in 2022,” said the poll.
However, Democrats are seemingly more hopeful about new year compared to Republicans and Independents.
Democrats predicted five positive developments in 2023.
“These include full or increasing employment (69%), a reasonable rise in prices (53%), a rising stock market (53%), an increase in U.S. power (56%) and a decrease in Russian power (79%),” it said.
Gallup added, however: “Democrats are least likely to predict political cooperation (13%) and a peaceful year mostly free of international disputes (21%).”
Meanwhile, 61% of independents and 47% of Republicans expect Russian power in the world will decrease, it added.
