27% Say U.S. 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 August 10.

This finding is up four points from the week before which marked the lowest level of confidence since the middle of October. Prior to this week, 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-five percent (65%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track. This finding is down four 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 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 4-10, 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-five percent (85%) of Republicans and 71% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats remain almost evenly divided.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of blacks believe the country is headed in the right direction, but 72% of whites and 54% of other minority voters disagree.

Sixty percent (60%) of the Political Class say the country is headed in the right direction, while 77% of Mainstream voters say the country is headed down the wrong track. 

Just 28% of all voters rate the performance of U.S. public schools as good or excellent. 

Attitudes toward the national health care law remain mostly negative, and voters continue to overwhelmingly favor consumer choice when buying health insurance. 

Most Americans believe the federal government butts in to Americans’ lives too much.

An overwhelming majority of adults still believe the United States is losing the war on drugs.

Americans strongly believe English should be the nation's officially recognized language.

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