Pew Survey Finds 59 Percent of Americans Say Country's Best Years Are Behind It

Pew Research data released Friday shows most Americans (59%) think the country's best years are behind them and only 40% think its best years are ahead. A majority of people in almost every racial, economic and political demographic said they feel America's best years are in the past with one exception—upper income respondents were split 50-50 on the question.

Black people, Hispanic people and Democrats were the most likely to report they think the country's best years are behind it, but a majority of Republicans, white and Asian people responded the same (just by a less dramatic margin).

Pew asked the same questions back in 2014, when Democratic politicians held the White House and the Senate, and found Democrats were more optimistic about the country's future then than they are now, but Republicans are more optimistic now. U.S. will be like 50 years from now and have become more pessimistic since 2014.

On an international scale, Americans stand out for their pessimism about the political system and their lack of national pride. Pew surveyed more than 30,000 people in 25 countries for a survey released in February and found the United States ranked among the countries with the fewest respondents who mentioned politics, history or culture as points of national pride.

When asked what makes them most proud, one-in-five Americans offered something negative or critical instead, making respondents from the United States the fifth most-likely to do so among surveyed countries. Data released in April showed the vast majority (77%) of Americans say the nation's political system needs major changes or complete reform, but half of those people said they don't have much faith that those changes will actually happen.