30% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Thirty percent (30%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending February 16.

That's up from 29% the previous two weeks. This finding has seesawed between 29% and 30% every week since mid-December and is consistent with attitudes for much of the Obama presidency. A year ago, 38% said the country was heading in the right direction.

Early last October during the federal government shutdown, confidence in the country’s course fell to 13%, the lowest finding in five years.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track. That’s down one point from the previous week. Eighty percent (80%) felt the country was on the wrong track in early October, but 54% believed that at this time last year.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on February 10-16, 2014. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Fieldwork for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of Republicans and 70% of voters not affiliated with either major political party still think the country is on the wrong track. Among Democrats, 50% believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 37% think it’s on the wrong track.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of black voters feel the country is headed in the right direction. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of whites and 53% of other minority voters disagree.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of those under 40 feel the country’s on the wrong track, a view shared by 64% of older voters.

Men are more likely than women to think the country is headed down the wrong track. 

Generally speaking, the more one earns, the more positive he or she is about the direction of the country.

Seventy-three percent of the Political Class feel the country is headed in the right direction, while 75% of Mainstream voters feel it’s on the wrong track.

For the second week in a row, Democrats hold the lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Congress last week passed a “clean” bill to raise the federal debt ceiling without spending cuts attached. While voters agree that not raising the debt ceiling would be bad for the economy, 57% wanted a deal that raised the debt ceiling in exchange for significant government spending cuts.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Americans say they owe more money than they did a year ago, but slightly more (30%) say they owe less.

Fifty-one percent (51%) are confident in the nation's banks, but that includes only 15% who are Very Confident.

Despite U.S. protests, Afghan authorities last week released 65 prisoners, some involved in attacks on Americans, and 51% of voters now favor the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Voters continue to give Congress rock-bottom ratings, with only eight percent (8%) who think Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

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