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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 3 January 2017
AP New Year’s poll: Americans enter 2017 on optimistic note

EMILY SWANSON of Muhammad Ali (50 per-
VERENA DOBNIK cent), approval of recre-
Associated Press ational marijuana use in
NEW YORK (AP) — Emo- four states (43 percent),
tionally wrenching politics, and the death of Fidel Cas-
foreign conflicts and shoot- tro (40 percent).
ings at home took a toll on ____
Americans in 2016, but they TOP MOMENTS IN POP CUL-
entered 2017 on an opti- TURE AND SPORTS
mistic note, according to a A majority of Americans,
new poll that found that a including 7 in 10 Midwest-
majority believes things are erners, called November’s
going to get better for the World Series win for the Chi-
country this year. cago Cubs to end their 108-
A look at the key findings of year drought memorable.
the Associated Press-Times Of nine other pop-culture
Square Alliance poll: items tested, two were
___ called memorable by
SO HOW WAS 2016? about half of Americans:
Americans weren’t thrilled the death of Prince, David
with 2016. Only 18 percent Bowie and Leonard Cohen;
said things for the coun- and the Olympic victories
try got better, 33 percent of the U.S. women’s gym-
said things got worse, and In this Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Evalena Worthing- nastics team.
47 percent said it was un- ton, costumed as a pirate wench, practices being lowered from the mast of the sailing vessel The two least-notable
changed from 2015. America 2.0 outside the Schooner Wharf Bar in Key West, Fla. events for Americans, of
On a personal level, they Associated Press the 10 choices in the poll,
were optimistic about 2017. “You’ve got to be optimis- Trump’s election as presi- in Belgium, Turkey, Pakistan were the Angelina Jolie-
Fifty-five percent said they tic, and I’m going to try.” dent played havoc with and France as personally Brad Pitt divorce filing and
believe things will be better Democrats are more likely people’s emotions. important news stories of the “Pokemon Go” app
for them in 2017. That’s a than Republicans to say “The amount of disinforma- the year. game phenomenon, each
12-point improvement from 2016 was worse for the tion made people suspect Fifty-one percent said they described by most as for-
a year earlier. country than 2015. And of everything and every- found news stories about gettable.
Americans interviewed Republicans are especially one, even their neighbors,” the deaths of people at ____
about the poll’s results ex- likely to feel that 2017 will he said. the hands of police officers, RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
pressed some of that opti- be even better for them ____ or news about ambush at- About half of the peo-
mism. personally. U.S. ELECTION LEADS TOP tacks on police in three ple polled in December said
“People will have more University of Miami profes- NEWS EVENTS states, to be among the they planned to celebrate
jobs and they’ll have more sor Benjamin Alsup said he The U.S. elections top Amer- year’s most important news the New Year at home.
money to spend,” said needed only three words to icans’ list of 10 top news events. About 2 in 10 planned to
Bourema Tamboura, a Har- explain why 2016 felt worse events in 2016. Three-quar- Fourth on the list are 43 per- go out to a friend’s or fam-
lem resident who works for for him: “Trump, Trump, ters called the presidential cent who described the ily member’s home, and 1
a New York car service. Trump!” election and Trump’s vic- spread of the Zika virus as in 10 to a bar or restaurant.
“I’m hoping 2017 will be Robert Greenstone, a New tory very or extremely im- important. About a quarter didn’t plan
better,” said Elizabeth York commercial real es- portant. The three events described to celebrate at all. About
Flynn, 62, an elementary tate broker, said the po- Sixty-three percent ranked by the largest percentages 6 in 10 said they’d tune in
schoolteacher from Pea- litical discourse leading mass shootings and bomb- of Americans as not too to watch the Times Square
body, Massachusetts. up to Republican Donald ings in Orlando, Florida, and important are the death ball drop.q