Though America is always trying to strive forward, a recent study shows most Americans believe life was better back in the day.

Nostalgia has played a role in politics throughout history. Many politicians used the rallying cry to return the country to better times.

This has always been the case, as a Gallup poll in 1939 found 62% of Americans felt people were happier back in the horse and buggy days.

Karlyn Bowman completed a public opinion study on nostalgia in America. She is a senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute and joined “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen to discuss her report The Nostalgia Impulse: How Americans View the Past.

“I saw this theme [of nostalgia] resonating in many of the questions that many of the different pollsters have asked, so I just followed it and finally, I put all the data together,” Bowman said.

The 1950s and 1980s were two decades when people felt they were living in the best of times.

“I think there are some good reasons for the 1980s after the end of the very deep recession in 1982. You had Ronald Reagan running for reelection. His campaign slogan was It’s Morning in America.” Bowman said. “People wanted to feel good about the country and I think Regan always expressed that sunny optimism.”

Bowman said the 1950s optimism came from the war’s end combined with the economic growth that made it popular for older adults.

Recent polling has shown people are feeling the same optimism about the late-1990’s-early-2000s.

“Another distinguishing feature of all of these [decades] is a very solid economy. For the first time, we had a balanced budget in the Clinton era, so I think people were feeling much better about the country then,” Bowman said.

While people feel values like patriotism are on the decline in America, Bowman said Americans are still very forward looking, and that is most evident in politics.

For example, nostalgia played a major role in the 1996 Presidential campaign between Bill Clinton and Republican challenger Bob Dole.

Dole, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, famously spoke about returning America to a better time.

‘Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquility, faith and confidence in the action,” he said.

In response, Clinton used the opportunity to move America forward, promising to be the ‘bridge to the future.’ These two ideologies were at the forefront of the election, with Clinton coming out on top.

“It spoke to Bob Dole who he was…I think it was a very powerful speech, but at the same time Clinton tapped into that optimism, looking forward,” Bowman said.

In present politics, former president Donald Trump used nostalgia as a rallying cry with his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

“At some point populism, it bleeds into a kind of populism that has a very negative edge that could be ultimately harmful to the country because we want to look forward; we want to be optimistic,” Bowman said.

People’s general outlook for how the world is going is much more pessimistic than in the past. Bowman said only 25 to 35% of Americans believe the country is heading on the right track.

“That’s a question that’s been asked since the 1970s and this is one of the most pessimistic responses that we’ve had…people are concerned about many, many things,” Bowman said.

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