28% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Likely U.S. Voters now think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending August 13.

This finding is down a point from 29% the week before.

Every week from late December through the beginning of March, 30% or more of voters said that the country is heading in the right direction, but the weekly findings fell back into the mid- to high 20s. Then following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions upholding Obamacare and gay marriage in late June, the number of voters who said the country is heading in the right direction climbed again into the low 30s and stayed there for three weeks. 

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, unchanged from a week earlier.

A year ago at this time, 24% felt the country was heading in the right direction, while 69% thought it was on the wrong track. 

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The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from August 9-13, 2015. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans and 69% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats by a narrow 46% to 43% margin believe the country is headed in the right direction.

Most voters of all ages agree the country is headed in the wrong direction, but voters under 40 are slightly less pessimistic than their elders are. 

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of whites and 55% of other minority voters believe the country is headed down the wrong track, compared to 45% of black voters.

Self-identified liberals are far more confident about the direction of the country than conservatives and moderates are. 

Among voters who disapprove of the job President Obama is doing, 82% or more think the country is heading in the wrong direction. 

As the U.S. economy continues to stumble along, many Americans suspect they’re competing for jobs with the growing number of illegal immigrants in this country.

Americans are definitely worried that the unfolding economic crisis in China may have repercussions on this side of the Pacific.

While protests continue in Ferguson, Missouri one year after the shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer, 72% of American Adults have a favorable view of the police in the area where they live.

It’s been a whole year since the United States first launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Iraq, but voters still think terrorists have the winning edge.

Voters feel strongly that citizens in democratic countries have a responsibility to stay informed but still doubt overwhelmingly that that's the case here in America. Just 10% of Likely U.S. Voters feel that most Americans are informed voters. Eighty-two percent (82%) say most are not informed about what they vote on.

When it comes to women’s issues, men and women unsurprisingly hold quite different views. But how much do they really disagree?

Despite President Obama’s recent announcement of an even more ambitious plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, voters still put job creation ahead of the fight against global warming and don’t blame their fellow Americans for worrying about the economy first.

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

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