Republicans, Independents Less Hopeful About 2013 than Democrats Were Under Bush

The GWB era was one where hope was pretty low. That is, at least, the perception. According to a new WaPo-ABC poll, hope for 2013 is lower than it's been since before the turn of the millenium with only 38% of independents and 18% of Republicans claiming to be "hopeful" going into 2013.

At its lowest point in 2003, Democrats hope level bottomed out at 39%.

On top of the lack of hope, only 15% said they were "Very Optimistic" about the how the economy will fare for the next 12 months while 76% of the country believe that the economy is still in a recession.

The national economy has always been at least partially influenced by perceptions. One of the strengths of both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan is that they were able to take rough economic situations and turn them around in part because of the way people perceived what they were going to do with the economy. It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy; if the American people believe the economy is getting better, it does.

The flip side of this is, unfortunately, influential as well.