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27% Say U.S. is Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-seven percent (27%) 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 May 4.
 
This is unchanged from the week before and remains the lowest level of optimism since early December. The number who say the country is heading in the right direction had been in the narrow range of 28% to 30% for 16 out of the 20 weeks since then.
 
Early last October during the federal government shutdown, confidence in the country's course fell to 13%, the lowest finding in five years.
 
Sixty-five percent (65%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track, down one point from last week which was the highest finding of 2014. Eighty percent (80%) felt the country was on the wrong track in early October.
 
 A year ago, 31% said the country is heading in the right direction; 61% disagreed.
 
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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on April 28-May 4, 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-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 72% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Among Democrats, 48% believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 40% think it is headed down the wrong track.
 
Those 40 and over are even more pessimistic about the country's direction than younger voters are. Fifty percent (50%) of black voters think the country is heading in the right direction. Seventy-one percent (71%) of whites and 59% of other minority voters disagree.
 
Eighty-six percent (86%) of conservative voters and 57% of moderates believe the country is headed down the wrong track. Forty-eight percent (48%) of liberal voters believe it is heading in the right direction.
 
Sixty-four percent (64%) of the Political Class believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 75% of Mainstream voters think it is headed down the wrong track.
 
Democrats have a four-point lead over Republicans on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot.
 
But voters continue to trust Republicans more than Democrats on most major issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports, including the number one concern, the economy.

Fifty-one percent (51%) are still worried the federal government will not do enough in reacting to the nation’s economic problems, and 63% think cutting spending is the best thing it can do.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans know someone who is out of work and looking for a job.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of voters have a favorable opinion of the federal government.
 
Fifty-six percent (56%) think the cost of health care will go up because of Obamacare.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on April 28-May 4, 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.

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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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