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The voice of the world in numbers
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Dec. 31, 2024
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As we approach the new year, here are 12 trends to watch in 2025 that will keep Front Page readers informed about the major issues shaping our world.
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1. Is American Democracy OK?
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The Data: In December
2023, a new low of 28% of U.S. adults were satisfied with the way
democracy is working in the country. This trend will be updated in
January.
Full Story
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2. Court of Public Opinion |
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The Data: Americans'
confidence in their nation's judicial system and courts dropped to a
record-low 35% in 2024. The result further sets the U.S. apart from
other wealthy nations in the OECD, where majorities tend to express
trust in this critical democratic institution.
New Figures
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3. People's Verdict on Judicial System |
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The Data: The
judiciary stands out for seeing a larger drop in public confidence than
many other U.S. institutions, including the national government,
military and financial institutions, between 2020 and 2024. Confidence
in the national government also declined by 20 percentage points to 26%.
Latest Data
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4. U.S. Agencies' Report Card |
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The Data: Americans
rated the job performance of 15 federal government agencies and
departments in September. Just one — the U.S. Postal Service — was rated
positively by a majority of Americans, while eight were rated
exceptionally poorly, with less than 35% of Americans saying they're
doing an “excellent” or “good” job.
Read More
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5. Watching the Watchdog |
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The Data: Americans
continue to register low trust in the mass media, with 31% expressing a
“great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the
news “fully, accurately and fairly,” similar to last year's 32%.
Read Article
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6. Presidential Pulse |
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The Data:
Presidential job approval is a simple yet powerful measure of the
public's view of the U.S. president's job performance at a particular
point in time. The approval ratings reported here are Presidents Harry
Truman through Joe Biden. When Trump was last in office, his approval
rating did not crack 50%. Gallup will report on his first job approval
rating of 2025 shortly after he is inaugurated in January.
Explore Trends
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7. It's a Problem |
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The Data: This month, 34% of U.S. adults name economic issues as the most important problem facing the country.
Latest on Economy
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8. Best Life Imaginable |
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The Data: In the
third quarter of 2024, 52.6% of Americans were considered to be
thriving. Gallup classifies Americans as "thriving," "struggling" or
"suffering" according to how they rate their current and future lives on
a ladder scale with steps numbered from zero to 10, based on the
Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale.
Latest Wellbeing
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9. Thriving by Race/Ethnicity |
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The Data: In 2024,
52% of Black Americans were categorized as thriving, compared with 50%
of White Americans and 48% of Hispanic Americans.
Explore Report
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10. Who's the Happiest of Them All? |
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The Data: The
happiest country in the world is Finland, with an average score of 7.74
out of 10. Finland retained its crown as the happiest country in the
world for the seventh straight year, as reported in the 2023 World Happiness Report. Rounding out the top five were Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel. The United States fell out of the top 20 countries.
Full Story
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11. My Life at Work |
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The Data: Employee
engagement is the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in both their
work and workplace. In the U.S., 31% of employees were engaged in 2024,
compared with 23% globally from 2023.
Explore Indicator
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12. Does Anyone Care About Me? |
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The Data: The
percentage of employees who strongly agree that their organization cares
about their overall wellbeing tied a record low of 21% in early 2024
and remained just above that mark in August.
Full Story
More content that will shape 2025:
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