From the Center for Media Research, "Not A Good Decade, Say The People". Here is some interesting information on the population's perception of the triple 000's...
"The breadth and depth of discontent with the current decade is reflected in the words people use to describe it. The single most common word or phrase used to characterize the past 10 years is downhill, and other bleak terms such as poor, decline, chaotic, disaster, scary, and depressing are common. Other, more neutral, words like change, fair and interesting also come up, and while the word good is near the top of the list, there are few other positive words mentioned with any frequency.There is no significant generational divide in impressions of the current decade: Roughly half in all age groups view the 2000s negatively, while less than a third rates the decade positively. This is in stark contrast to generational differences in views of previous decades.
The biggest generational division of opinion is in retrospective evaluations of the 1970s. Baby Boomers - most of whom are between the ages of 50 and 64 today and were between 20 and 34 in 1979 - view this decade in an overwhelmingly favorable light, with positive impressions outnumbering negative views by 48 points (59% positive vs. 11% negative). By contrast, people who were younger than 20 at the end of the 1970s - who are currently in their 30s and 40s - offer a less positive assessment; just 28% view the decade positively, 20% negatively, and 52% say neither or offer no opinion.
Most Americans (59%) think the next decade will be better than the current one for the country as a whole, and this perspective is widely shared across most political and demographic groups. But a significant minority - 32% - is of the view that things will be worse in the 2010s than in the 2000s. Generationally, Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 are the most pessimistic about the 2010s.
Expectations Of 2010s (% Respondents by Category) |
| Next Decade Will Be |
| Better | Worse | Same/DK |
Total | 59% | 32 | 9 |
Age | | | |
18-29 | 65 | 29 | 7 |
30-49 | 60 | 31 | 9 |
50-64 | 50 | 42 | 8 |
65+ | 62 | 26 | 13 |
Family income | | | |
$75+ | 64 | 32 | 4 |
$32-75K | 61 | 33 | 6 |
<$30K | 58 | 30 | 12 |
Source: Pew Research Center, December 2009 |