A new YouGov survey explores which times of day, days of the week, and months Americans view most favorably. The survey also explored what Americans think of each of the last seven years and 16 earlier years that are historically significant.

The most favorably viewed month is October: 78% have a favorable view of this month, including 36% who view it very favorably. About three-quarters of Americans have favorable views of each of May (76%), April (74%), June (73%), and September (73%).

The months Americans are least likely to view favorably are January (51%), February (53%), and March (65%).

Americans who live in the West are more likely than those in other regions of the U.S. to have favorable views of the first three winter months: December (71% vs. 65%), January (60% vs. 48%), and February (59% vs. 51%). March isn't viewed particularly differently in the West, though.

People who live in the Northeast are slightly more likely than people in other regions to have favorable views of June (80% vs. 72%) and August (75% vs. 66%).

What about the most and least favorably viewed days of the week? Vast majorities of Americans have favorable views of Saturday (83%, including 54% who view it very favorably) and Friday (82%). Sunday is also widely popular (78%). Majorities have favorable views of all but one day of the week: Monday, which only 49% view favorably; 38% view it unfavorably.

Americans who are retired are more likely than people who are working to have favorable views of Monday (69% vs. 42%), Tuesday (77% vs. 53%), and Wednesday (77% vs. 63%).

The most favorably viewed time of day among Americans, among 10 asked about, is 7 p.m.: 77% view this evening hour favorably, including 34% who view it very favorably. About as many have very or somewhat favorable views of 9 p.m. (76%).

The least favorably viewed time of day polled about is 4 a.m.: 39% have a favorable view and 41% view it unfavorably. The early-morning hour of 6 a.m. is slightly more popular: 46% have a favorable view and 38% an unfavorable one.

Americans 65 and older are more likely than younger adults to have favorable views of the hours of 8 a.m. (65% vs. 55%), 10 a.m. (82% vs. 66%), noon (82% vs. 70%), and 3 p.m. (80% vs. 69%).

Americans are much more likely to have a favorable view of 2026 than an unfavorable one (38% vs. 14%), though half (48%) say they don’t know what their opinion of the year is (according to a poll conducted in the year's first week). Opinions about 2025 are more mixed: 49% say they have a favorable view of it and 45% have an unfavorable view. Opinions of 2024 are similar (50% vs. 43%).

The only year in the 2020s viewed unfavorably by that a majority of Americans is 2020 (57%). About one-third (36%) have a favorable view of 2020.

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to have favorable views of 2026 (55% vs. 30%) and 2025 (74% vs. 32%). Democrats are more likely than Republicans to have favorable views of 2023 (64% vs. 50%) and 2022 (59% vs. 45%).

The survey also explored how Americans view 16 historically significant years. The one Americans view most favorably is the year 2000: 61% have a favorable view. Slightly fewer have favorable views of 2016 (54%), 1989 (54%), 1776 (53%), and 2008 (52%).

The years 1939 (11%) and 1914 (12%) — when World War II and World War I began, respectively — are the least likely to be viewed favorably by Americans.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to have favorable views of 2016 (67% vs. 44%), 1776 (66% vs. 47%), and 1492 (42% vs. 19%). On average, Republicans feel more favorably than Democrats about the historical years asked about.

Related:

See the results for this YouGov survey

— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on January 2 - 5, 2026 among 1,099 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.

Image: Getty (Tatiana Sviridova)

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