For many, 2024 was a year marked by emotional strain, economic hardship, and tumult. For some, the year ended "great," while for others it was "disappointing."

In our latest national survey conducted Dec 11-15, we asked 1,000 voters this question: “As 2024 comes to a close, how would you best describe this year overall using just one word?”

Three-in-five chose a word that was negative (most common were “disappointing,” “stressful” and “challenging”) while 32% chose one that was positive (“good” or “great”) and 9% selected a word that was more neutral (like “okay” or “change”). Some answers reflected thoughts on the totality of the year or personal circumstances, while others clearly were about the 2024 election results (“Trump/MAGA,” “Hopeful with the incoming president,” “Depressed after November,” “Extremely upset for the next 4 years”) because even though we said “one word,” many voters gave us a sentence. Some sentences were quite nice, “In 2024, I learned how to grow and find peace of mind in my work,” while others were sad, “Difficult due to family deaths, but hard work, compassion and gratitude made it better.”

While “expensive” was a top word choice for both men and women, other words were used to express the financial struggle many felt and, collectively, were a dominant theme: inflation (9), broke (2), financially challenging (2), high prices (2).

Looking ahead, a plurality of voters think both their own personal finances and the country’s financial outlook will be better in a year, but there are big differences depending on your politics, and even gender.

Men are more optimistic than women and, no surprise, Trump voters are more optimistic than Harris voters.

About this survey:
Bellwether Research conducted a nationally representative survey of N=1,000 registered voters. The survey was conducted December 11–15, 2024, using a mixed-mode approach (phone and text-to-web). The national sample was weighted to approximate a target sample of national voters by age, gender, race, educational attainment, Hispanic ethnicity, census region, and community designation based on the Census and the ANES. The data was also weighted to account for 2024 presidential vote.

Sampling was conducted using a list of registered voters. Phone interviews were completed by live callers, while text-to-web respondents had the option to take the survey via their mobile phone, computer, or tablet, depending on their preferred method. The overall margin of sampling error for the national sample is +/- 3%. Due to rounding and weighting, percentages may not always equal 100%