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 January 11. 

This finding is down three points from the week before which marked the highest level of optimism since April 2013. The number of voters who think the country is heading in the right direction was below 30% most weeks last year.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track. This is up three points from last week which was the lowest finding in nearly two years.

A year ago at this time, 29% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 63% thought it was headed down the wrong track. 

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 The national telephone survey of 2,800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from January 5-11, 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.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans and 65% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. 

Sixty-one percent (61%) of black voters say the country is headed in the right direction. Sixty-seven (67%) of white voters and 53% of other minority voters disagree.

Voters 40 and over are more pessimistic about the direction of the country than younger voters are. 

Investors are more likely than non-investors to say the country is headed in the right direction. 

Thirty percent (30%) of all Americans believe the unemployment rate will be lower in a year's time,  the highest level of optimism since March 2013.

Gas prices are hitting near record lows around the country, but Americans suspect the rock-bottom prices won’t last for long.

While several economic indicators suggest the U.S. economy may finally be recovering, car buying doesn't appear to be one of them. 

Voters continue to believe that securing the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already here. 

With only a handful of reported cases in this country, Americans are less concerned about the threat of Ebola and more confident the U.S. public health system can handle the killer virus. 

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