2015
The New Year's Eve "15" numerals stand lit on the sidewalk after they were unloaded from a truck in Times Square in New York, Dec. 16, 2014. Reuters

A plurality of Americans can’t wait for the ball to drop in Times Square and usher in 2015 after nearly half said they believe the new year will be better for them than 2014, according to a survey conducted by the Associated Press and the Times Square Alliance and released Friday. Only 11 percent of those polled said 2015 will be a worse year than 2014, compared to 48 percent who said it will be better. About 39 percent said there won’t be much of a difference.

Fewer Americans, 48 percent, said they will be celebrating the new year at home compared to last year, when 54 percent said they would celebrate that way. More Americans -- 23 percent -- said they won’t be celebrating New Year’s Eve -- than the 18 percent who responded that way in 2014. The same percentage -- 8 percent -- said they would go to a bar, restaurant or an organized event to ring in 2015 as last year.

More Americans -- 61 percent -- said they plan on watching at least part of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop celebration than the 57 percent who said they would watch the tradition in 2014, according to the poll. Nearly all of them -- 96 percent -- said they will watch the event on television, with just 3 percent saying they will tune in online or on a mobile device. The remaining 1 percent said they will witness the ball drop in person.

Reflecting on 2014, a little more than a third of respondents said it was a better year than 2013 while 15 percent said it was worse for them personally. Half said there wasn’t much difference between 2014 and last year.

But for the world, more respondents -- 38 percent -- said 2014 was worse than last year, with only 16 percent saying 2014 was better. Another 45 percent said there wasn’t much difference.

The poll of 1,017 adults was conducted between Dec. 12 and Dec. 14. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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