24% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-four percent (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 August 17.

This finding is down three points from 27% the week before. Prior to that finding, the number who said the country is heading in the right direction had been steadily falling since mid-June. It has been less than 30% for most of this year.

Early last October during the partial 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. This finding is up two points from last week. 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 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 August 11-17, 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-seven percent (87%) of Republicans and 72% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats are almost evenly divided.

Blacks say the country is headed in the right direction by a narrow 45% to 41% margin. Seventy-three percent (73%) of whites and 57% of other minorities disagree.

Sixty-six percent (66%) 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. 

The police shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri is a tale of two cities. Most black Americans have already made up their minds that the policeman should be found guilty. Most whites (56%) and a plurality (49%) of other minorities are undecided.

Business is steadily growing at the new health insurance exchanges set up under Obamacare.

Homeowners are less confident than the have been in over a year that their home’s value will increase in the short-term. Confidence in Short-Term Housing Market Slips to 2014 Low Confidence.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters think the policies and practices of the federal government encourage people to enter the United States illegally, the highest level of cynicism in over two years.

Seventy-four percent (74%) believe all voters should be required to prove their identity before being allowed to vote.

Nearly half (47%) of all Americans say they or someone in their immediate family has been diagnosed with depression by a doctor.  

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

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