Though the Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than 228,000 people in the United States since March and the presidential election has raised the nation’s stress level, a majority of Americans feel optimistic about the future, according to a new study from Champlain College.
The research, published last week, found that 66% of respondents felt positive about the future, even when thinking about the pandemic and the 2020 election. The survey involved 1,006 respondents from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Melissa Marcello, who headed the study for Champlain, said the unexpectedly positive results illustrate the reason she and her colleagues were drawn to studying optimism in the first place: It’s a reminder that promising things are going on in the world, even when they’re not necessarily reflected in the headlines.
Champlain has a strengths-based approach to teaching, Marcello said. The college amplifies students’ strengths by focusing on what’s going well, rather than honing in on what might be lacking. She said the optimism study is in line with that approach.
“If you’re a student of history, you know that when we look back at some of the darker times in our nation, they tend to lead to pretty amazing outcomes,” Marcello said.
Although she and her colleagues were surprised to see just how optimistic people are, optimism itself isn’t a surprising quality to find — in fact, she said, it’s a hallmark of being an American.
“We were really curious to see if that American optimism was alive and well, if people were imagining a future for themselves and their family at a time that might feel really bleak,” Marcello said.
The survey hasn’t been conducted repeatedly over time, so there’s no way to compare these results to a pre-pandemic level of optimism. But Marcello said there is plenty to be learned from the standalone study.
“I would suspect that this is probably lower than typical American optimism, and yet, it’s surprisingly high, given what folks are going through,” she said.
People with children in the home, in particular, were more likely to feel optimistic about the future — significantly more optimistic about their career prospects (63%) compared to those without kids at home (51%). People with kids were also more likely to accelerate their decision to gain new skills for the workplace during the pandemic (24%) compared to people without kids at home (15%).
The difference between people with kids at home and people without kids at home could be explained in several ways, Marcello said. First, she said, consider adults who might not have had much family time who then started working from home during the pandemic. That change presents a whole slew of challenges, but many families also like the change of pace.
“But also, if you don’t have kids, it might be easier to focus on yourself or older family members that you’re not living with, and maybe kids present a buffer to all that chaos happening in society,” she said.
Additionally, the study found that 38% of people reported that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election is the issue that will affect their lives most in the coming year, while 37% said the Covid-19 pandemic, and 6% said the racial justice movement.
Older Americans in particular were more likely to identify the election as the issue that will affect them most.
Marcello said the results were unexpected, but might be explained by the longevity of the impact.
“The impact of the presidential election, people may see it as lasting four years or maybe even eight, but I suspect people are thinking that at some point, the pandemic will be over, and while it will have some pretty significant consequences, it is eventually going to run its course,” she said.
What most excited Marcello and her team were the findings that revealed how people were channeling their optimism.
The survey found that 39% of adults said the pandemic accelerated their decision to adopt new healthy habits, 29% of adults said they were considering continuing their education, and 35% were exploring a career change.
For a school like Champlain, which focuses extensively on helping adults expand career options, the results were telling, she said.
“At this pivotal time in the world, we have the opportunity to educate traditional students and adult students as society faces swift social changes and challenges,” she said. “I feel like there’s no better time to be in higher education.”
