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24% Say Country is Heading in Right Direction

For the second week in a row, 24% 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 November 10.

Confidence in the country’s direction fell to 13% one month ago in the midst of the partial federal government shutdown. It was the lowest finding in five years. The week before Election Day a year ago, 43% said the country was heading in the right direction.

After President Obama assumed office in January 2009, the number of voters who felt the country was headed in the right direction rose 40% in early May of that year. In 2010 and 2011, confidence fell to the narrow range of 14% to 19%, levels similar to those measured in the final months of the George W. Bush administration. Optimism began easing up again in mid-December 2011.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track, also unchanged from last week but down from a recent high of 80% a month ago. From January 2009 until October 2012, belief that the country was on the wrong track ranged from 55% to 80% but it tracked in the low 50s from just before Election Day until early December.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on November 4-10, 2013. 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

As problems continue to plague the launch of the new national health care law, Obama's daily Presidential Job Approval Index rating fell to -25 today. That's his lowest rating since August 31, 2011.

Ninety percent (90%) of Republicans and 76% of voters not affiliated with either major party still think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats agree by a narrow 47% to 44% margin.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters under 40 think the country’s on the wrong track, but older voters are even more pessimistic.

Blacks remain much more positive about the country’s direction than whites and other minority voters.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of conservative voters and 66% of moderates think the country is on the wrong track, but just 42% of liberals share that view. 

Just 35% of all voters now believe the health care law is good for America, and 55% favor repealing the law, with 43% who Strongly Favor it.

Voters are evenly divided when asked whether the president deliberately lied about the potential impact of the health care law before it was passed by Congress. But 71% believe Americans should be able to keep their existing health insurance policies. 

Most voters still believe the policies and practices of the federal government encourage illegal immigration.

Democrats lead Republicans by two on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on November 4-10, 2013. 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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