Every January, many of us vow to improve our bodies, minds, careers and houseplants, all centered around the tradition of New Year’s resolutions. But how many Americans actually make resolutions? What do they resolve to do? And why do many opt out of setting new year’s goals?

This Washington Post poll was conducted Jan. 2-4, 2026, among a random national sample of 1,031 U.S. adults from the SSRS Opinion Panel, an ongoing survey panel recruited through random sampling of U.S. households. The sample was weighted to match U.S. population demographics, partisanship and civic engagement. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.