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33% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Thirty-three percent (33%) 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 4. 

This finding is up three points from the week before and is 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.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, down three points from last week. This is the lowest finding in nearly two years.

A year ago at this time, 29% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 62% thought it was headed down the wrong track. 

These findings come at a time when our regular economic indicators suggest that something other than traditional beginning-of-the year optimism is going on

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The national telephone survey of 2,800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from December 29-30, 2014 & January 2-4, 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.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans and 65% of voters not affiliated with either major political party still think the country is on the wrong track. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of black voters think the country is heading in the right direction, while the same number (65%) of whites disagree. Other minority voters are almost evenly divided.

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

Those who work for the government are less likely than those in the private sector to think the country is heading down the wrong track. 

Americans ended 2014 on a much more positive note than they did the previous year and are more optimistic about the year ahead.

The Rasmussen Employment Index which measures worker confidence hit a six-year high for the second month in a row in December. 

Voters are evenly divided when asked whether President Obama or the new Republican-led Congress should take the lead on issues important to the nation. 

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

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The national telephone survey of 2,800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from December 29-30, 2014 & January 2-4, 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.

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

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