26% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-six percent (26%) 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 June 29.

This is down one point from 27% the week before and ties the lowest finding since early December 2013. The number who say the country is heading in the right direction has now been less than 30% for 18 of the 26 weeks this year.

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

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track. That's up two points from the previous week and ties the high for the year first reached two weeks ago. Eighty percent (80%) felt the country was on the wrong track in early October.

A year ago, 30% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 63% said it was going down the wrong track.

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 The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on June 23-29, 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 74% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats are evenly divided.

Eighty-nine percent (89%) of voters who say they are members of Tea Party believe the country is on the wrong track. Sixty-one percent (61%) of those not associated with that movement agree.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of black voters think the country is heading in the right direction. Seventy-three percent (73%) of whites and 55% of other minority voters disagree.

Those 40 and over are even more pessimistic than younger voters. 

Seventy-five percent (75%) of the Political Class believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 79% of Mainstream voters think it is headed down the wrong track

The Rasmussen Employment Index which measures worker confidence slipped a point in June after reaching its highest level in almost six years the month before.

Support for Common Core among Americans with school-age children has fallen dramatically, as more now question whether the new national education standards will actually improve student performance. Just 34% of Americans with children of elementary or secondary school age now favor requiring all schools nationwide to meet the same Common Core education standards.

Only 17% of voters believe U.S. public schools today provide a world-class education.

Forty-four percent (44%) share a favorable opinion of the new national health care law, while 51% view it unfavorably. Half agree with the U.S. Supreme Court that a business owner should be able to opt out of Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate if it violates his or her religious beliefs.

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