Regarding the Gallup poll anecdote. Couldn't it be explained by scope rather than optimism and pessimism about myself and others? If you ask me how things are

Regarding the Gallup poll anecdote. Couldn't it be explained by scope rather than optimism and pessimism about myself and others? If you ask me how things are going in the US, I could say bad for any number of reasons in a large, complex country. If you ask me how things are going in my personal life, I have a much smaller scope of what could be going bad.