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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 September 7.

That's up one point from the week before. The number who say the country is heading in the right direction has been below 30% most weeks for the past year. Early last October during the partial 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. This finding is down one point from a week ago. Eighty percent (80%) felt the country was on the wrong track in early October 2013.

A year ago, 30% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 61% 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 September 1-7, 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 71% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats believe the country is headed in the right direction by a 48% to 41% margin.

Half (51%) of blacks think the country is headed in the right direction. Seventy-one percent (71%) of whites and 60% of other minority voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction. 

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of conservatives and 60% of moderates say the country is headed down the wrong track. A plurality (48%) of liberals thinks it's headed in the right direction.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of the Political Class believe the country is headed in the right direction, but 77% of Mainstream voters disagree. 

Fifty-six percent (56%) of all voters continue to have an unfavorable opinion of the new national health care law.

The number of voters who consider another attack on the scale of September 11, 2001 Very Likely is at its highest level since before the killing of Osama bin Laden three-and-a-half years ago.

Most voters oppose President Obama's reported plan to unilaterally grant amnesty to several million illegal immigrants and think Congress should challenge him in court if he goes ahead with it.

Americans think law enforcement is not aggressive enough in the pursuit of domestic violence complaints. 

Twenty-nine percent (29%) think the unemployment rate will be lower in a year's time, while 26% say it will be higher.

Eighty-two percent (82%) believe children today spend too much time on their computers and other electronic devices.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on September 1-7, 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.

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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