It’s one of the oldest debates: is the glass half empty or half full? A new CivicScience survey shows that 70% of U.S. adults describe the glass as half full, while 30% see it as half empty.

Millennials (ages 30–44) are the most likely to say half empty, while Baby Boomers (65+) are the most likely to say half full. Men are 6 percentage points more likely than women to say half empty, though both lean toward half full overall. Income also plays a role—low-income households report the highest share of half-empty responses, while high-income households are most likely to say half full.

But demographics aren’t the only thing dividing glass-half-full and half-empty thinkers:

• Cooking: Half-full respondents are 8 percentage points more likely to say they enjoy cooking.

• Brand Boycotts: Half-empty respondents are 5 percentage points more likely to say they would boycott brands that support causes they oppose.

• Water Habits: The divide extends to water itself—half-empty Americans are more likely to drink tap water, while half-full Americans tend to drink bottled or filtered water.

• Podcasts: Half-full respondents are nearly twice as likely to listen to interview or conversational podcasts.

• Newspapers: Half-full consumers are also more likely to read the print edition of a local newspaper.

The glass-half-empty vs. half-full question may seem simple, but it reveals more than a mindset. From cooking and media to shopping and even water choices, how people answer this classic debate connects to broader lifestyle habits.

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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.

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