31% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Thirty-one percent (31%) 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 22. 

This finding is down one point from the previous week. The week ending January 25, the percentage of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction hit 35%, the highest level of confidence in nearly two years, but has been trending down since then. The number of voters who think the country is heading in the right direction has been 30% or higher since mid-December after being in the mid- to high 20s most weeks since mid-June 2013.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, up one point from last week.

A year ago at this time, 32% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 61% thought it was headed down the wrong track.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. 

The national telephone survey of 2,800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from February 16-22, 2015. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Most men and women and voters of all ages agree the country is headed down the wrong track, but those under 40 are less pessimistic than their elders.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction. Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans and 66% of voters not affiliated with either major political party disagree.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of white voters think the country is on the wrong track, compared to 42% of blacks and 47% of other minority voters.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of the Political Class say right direction; 72% of Mainstream voters think wrong track.

Most voters continue to believe the current economy isn't working for the middle class, although they're slightly more positive about the economy in general.

Americans still have mixed feelings about whether now’s a good time to sell a home.

Just as beginning-of-the-year confidence in the banking industry has faded, concerns about rising grocery prices have returned to levels seen for the last three years. 

Parents of school-age children object even more strongly to the increasing emphasis on standardized testing in schools, but they’re not so sure students should be able to opt out of the tests.

Voters paint an increasingly dismal picture of U.S. efforts to fight terrorism.

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.