Poll: Americans Extremely Pessimistic, 90% Expect 2023 Will See Political Conflict

A new poll reveals stark levels of pessimism amongst the American people, as they are overwhelmingly predicting 2023 to be a year of political conflict, higher crime rates, economic struggles, and a diminishment of America’s standing in the world.

“Americans enter 2023 with a mostly gloomy outlook for the U.S. as majorities predict negative conditions in 12 of 13 economic, political, societal and international arenas,” Gallup writes.

And while President Biden and Mitch McConnell are celebrating ‘bipartisan’ efforts this week, the poll shows a whopping 90% expect the coming year to be one of political conflict in the United States.

Respondents were asked to determine if they feel 2023 will be one of bipartisan cooperation or political conflict – only 9% offered a positive prediction.

“Americans Largely Pessimistic About U.S. Prospects in 2023”—Gallup https://t.co/oeHcpAhbRq

— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) January 3, 2023

RELATED: Misty-Eyed Adam Kinzinger Says Conservatives Would Be First To Die In A Civil War

90% Expect Political Conflict in 2023

Gallup reports the bottom line from their survey is a population not expecting much to improve domestically, internationally, or economically in 2023.

“Americans are greeting 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that closed out 2022 will abate,” they write. “Few U.S. adults also predict the partisan politics that plague the nation will improve.”

There was a midterm election just two months ago that voters could have used to change their fortunes going forward.

Majorities of Americans predict negative outcomes in 2023 for a host of economic, political, societal and international issues. https://t.co/B3NKdJ3Inv

— GallupNews (@GallupNews) January 3, 2023

To be fair, political conflict could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Are Americans pessimistic because a divided Congress is set to move forward in the coming year? Or do they expect more in the way of conflict?

Microsoft founder Bill Gates in September warned that political polarization in America could lead to civil war and “bring it all to an end.”

Former Representative Adam Kinzinger openly fantasized about a country being driven toward civil war and suggested that anti-war conservatives would be the first to die.

Truer words have never been spoken. Spoiled people who have never seen war like to play dress up.

If there is a civil war, they will be the first to pass away because Walgreens will run out of heart medicine. https://t.co/0fijyCiA2L

— Adam Kinzinger #fella (@AdamKinzinger) October 16, 2022

Long before either of them, legendary radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh warned that forces operating on the left were so aggressively trying to tear apart the country that he believed America could be on the verge of another Civil War.

“America is under attack from within,” he warned in a 2017 broadcast. “Our culture, our history, our founding are under the most direct assault I have seen in my life.”

“You might even get away with saying that we are on the cusp of a second civil war,” Limbaugh explained.

While it’s unlikely the full 90% of those cited in the Gallup survey are expecting a civil war, a fairly recent poll commissioned by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights indicates 54% of Americans “fear America is on the path to another civil war.”

RELATED: Rush Limbaugh Warns: America On the Cusp of Another Civil War

A Gloomy Outlook

Gallup’s poll shows respondents have a gloomy outlook on 2023 in Biden’s America in nearly every facet.

In fact, the only aspect in which they view a positive for America is a prediction that Russia’s power in the world will decline – 64% believe this.

Americans’ opinions of the major leaders of the U.S. federal government are mostly negative. https://t.co/cquwW1IB5G

— GallupNews (@GallupNews) December 17, 2022

An equal percentage – 64% – believe America’s power will be on the decline as well, however.

Additionally, 81% expect their taxes to rise, 79% expect to suffer from “economic difficulty,” 72% expect crime rates to go even higher, and more than six in 10 think prices will continue to rise at a high rate.

President Biden, much like failed president Jimmy Carter, has brought back an era in which America is experiencing a “crisis of confidence” and “the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.”