Poll finds when was the greatest time to be American - Gen X and Elder Millennials rejoice!

A new poll tasked Americans with picking the best time to be alive in U.S. history, and the results are good news for Gen Xers and elder Millennials.

According to the YouGov survey, the highest-ranked decades for overall quality of life in the U.S. were during the 1980s and the 1990s.

The poll broke up U.S. history into 16 periods — beginning way back during the British colonial era in the 1600s — and asked its 1,139 respondents to rank the periods from best time to be alive to the worst.

The survey found that 57 percent of respondents said the Reagan Era (1980-1991) was excellent or good in terms of quality of life, and thus it was viewed as the best time to be alive. The second best was the Clinton Era (1993-2001), with 55 percent of respondents saying that time was excellent or good.

The third spot went to the Postwar Baby Boom era of 1946-1964, with a 51 percent rating.

Just in case you aren't seeing the pattern: the largest population groups in the U.S. pick the eras that represent their childhoods — times when they had less to worry about and the world seemed more hopeful and less miserable — as their personal best times to be alive.

Millennials are currently the largest age demographic in the U.S. — especially if Gen X is lumped in with their younger counterparts — and span both the Reagan and Clinton years. Baby Boomers are the second largest.

Outside of the childhood eras of both of the largest generational groups in the U.S., the other 13 eras on the list received less than a 50 percent favorability rating.

Only 46 percent thought the Counterculture Era of the 1960s was the best time to be alive, and only 40 percent of respondents thought the Post-9/11 Era of 2001-2008 was the best time to be alive.

The Great Depression was near the very bottom of the list, with only 17 percent of respondents saying it was an excellent or good time to be alive, and the Civil War period of 1861-1865 came dead last, with only five percent of respondents giving it a good or excellent rating.

Some of the other eras included the Gilded Age from the 1870s to 1900, the Reconstruction Era from 1865 to 1877, World War II, and the Great Recession.

The present day also rated well when compared to the worst-rated ages in U.S. history. Thirty-two percent of respondents said living today was excellent or good, and another 29 percent said it was "fair" to be alive today.

Once the poll's respondents are broken down by party affiliation, it's fairly unsurprising how things shake out. Democrats ranked the Clinton Era the highest, with 75 percent saying it was good or excellent with only 41 percent of Republican respondents sharing that view.

Likewise, 82 percent of Republicans said the Reagan Era was excellent or good, and only 35 percent of Democrats agreed.

Democrats and Republicans had shared feelings about the Great Depression, with only three percent on each side saying it was a good or excellent time to be alive, and they were close on the Counterculture Era, with 44 percent of Democrats saying it was a good or excellent time, and 49 percent of Republicans sharing that sentiment.

Respondents were also asked to rank the eras based on their political stability. In that ranking, the Reagan Era again won out — despite much of it playing out during the Cold War and U.S. clandestine action throughout the global south — with 18 percent saying it was the most politically stable time. The Clinton Era came in second, with 14 percent saying it was the most politically stable time in the nation's history.

Thirty-one percent said the least politically stable time in U.S. history is the present, even somehow beating out the Civil War period when Americans were killing each other in pitched battles with cannons.

The survey has a four-point margin of error and was conducted between April 9 - 11, 2025. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s “opt-in panel.”