23% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-three percent (23%) 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 August 24.

This is down one point from the week before and marks the second time this month this finding has fallen to a level of confidence last seen during the temporary government shutdown in October. The number who say the country is heading in the right direction has been steadily falling since mid-June and has been less than 30% for most of this year.

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

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track. This finding is unchanged from last week and remains the highest negative finding since last November. Eighty percent (80%) felt the country was on the wrong track in early October 2013.

A year ago, 29% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 64% 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 August 18-24, 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 71% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats agree but by a much narrower 50% to 39% margin.

Blacks are now evenly divided. Seventy-five percent (75%) of whites and 61% of other minority voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of the Political Class say the country is headed in the right direction, while 79% of Mainstream voters say the country is headed down the wrong track. 

Most voters still view the U.S. economy as unfair.  

The number of voters who say their insurance coverage has changed because of the new national health care law is at its highest level since April of last year, but most still say the law hasn’t helped or hurt them personally. 

The media firestorm that is the Ferguson, Missouri shooting doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon. Is the media giving us the straight story? Find out What America Thinks.

Half of Americans expect interest rates to be higher one year from now. Perhaps, this is because 50% aren’t confident the Fed can keep these rates down. 

Just over half remain confident in the stability of the U.S. banking industry.

Americans still believe a home is a family’s best investment, but they aren’t as confident about now being the best time for someone in their area to sell their home.

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