It's an oft-repeated statement that America is more partisan than ever. Fox News put that question to the test with a year-end poll asking a simple question: Was 2014 a good year?
The answer depends who you ask.
Although 57% of Americans told Fox News that 2014 was a good year, the numbers were drastically different depending on whether the respondent identified as a Republican or Democrat, and whether or not the respondent approved of President Barack Obama. Here's what the pollster found:
Washington Post/Fox News
Democrats overwhelmingly found 2014 to be a good year. Republicans were far less satisfied. And as you can see, those that approved of Obama thought 2014 was good, while those that didn't thought it was bad.
One thing to keep in mind about this poll is that respondents were apparently asked a number of other political questions before assessing 2014. This may have influenced them to place more weight on the year's political cycle.
However, The Wall Street Journal did a similar poll with NBCNews and found similar results. Democrats thought 2014 was average or better. Republicans thought it was below average. And, as you can see from the chart, a similar phenomenon happened in 2004, when President George W. Bush was in office. Most Republicans thought 2004 was a great year and most Democrats didn't.
Overall, it appears that Americans found 2014 to be one of the best years in the last decade, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. The survey found that 47% of Americans thought the year was "average or above," which may say more about Americans' views relative to the last decade rather than something specifically positive about 2014.
