US EditionAmericans in 1998 Tried to Predict 2025. Here’s What They Got Right
A 1998 Gallup poll predicted a Black president and legal gay marriage by 2025, but only 24% of Americans are satisfied with the country's direction, Gallup found.
- Gallup and USA Today in fall 1998 asked 1,055 Americans on landlines for predictions about 2025, and those responses are preserved at the Roper Center at Cornell University.
- Against a 1998 backdrop where President Bill Clinton faced impeachment and landlines were common, respondents believed race relations would improve and expected a female president by 2025.
- Data show respondents most often forecast a Black president, legal gay marriages and a deadly new disease by 2025, with more than half expecting a cure for cancer, 61% routine 100-year lifespans, nearly 8 in 10 less personal privacy and 57% less personal freedom.
- Satisfaction with how things were going dropped from about 60% to 24%, reflecting a changed national outlook, as a 71% majority expected raising children to be harder and 70% foresaw gains for the rich.
- Contextual review finds many forecasts failed while some doubts proved accurate, such as common space travel not arriving; the poll revealed pessimism on higher crime rates, poorer environmental quality and lower moral values.
14 Articles
14 Articles
In 1998, Bill Clinton was facing a process of impeachment, “Titanic” was raging in the Oscars and most households still had landlines. Gallup and USA Today called 1,055 Americans on those phones and asked them for their best predictions about a distant year in the future: 2025. Those predictions were recorded in survey files that the Cornell University Roper Center currently holds. So, when the last days of 2025 are already behind, it is worth l…
Americans in 1998 tried to predict 2025. Here’s what they got right
In the year 1998 – when Bill Clinton was president, most households still had landline phones, and CNN’s website looked like this – Gallup and USA Today called up 1,055 Americans on those landlines and asked them for their best predictions about a year in the distant future: 2025.
The polling company Gallup has released the results of a 1998 survey of Americans. That year, Americans were asked to predict what they thought American life would be like in 2025. As the year draws to a close, Gallup is releasing its findings. In many cases, Americans were right—some of the predictions were destined to come true.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 84% of the sources are Center
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