If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

ARCHIVE

29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-nine percent (29%) 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 6.

This finding is up a point from 28% the week before.

From late December through the beginning of March, 30% or more of voters said every week 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, down two points from a week earlier.

A year ago at this time, 27% felt the country was heading in the right direction, while 65% thought it was on the wrong track. 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from August 2-6, 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-one percent (81%) of Republicans and 68% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats by a 49% to 44% margin believe the country is headed in the right direction.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of whites and 54% of other minority voters believe the country is headed down the wrong track. A plurality (49%) of black voters believes it is heading in the right direction.

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, 84% or more think the country is heading in the wrong direction. 

The president's plan to exempt up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation remains tied up in court, but most voters don’t think the United States is aggressive enough in deporting those who are here illegally

Most voters like Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s ambitious plan to combat global warming but admit the issue isn’t of high importance to their voting decisions. Obama last week announced an even more ambitious plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, but voters see more costs than rewards.

Donald Trump said recently that he tries to pay as little in taxes as possible, but most Americans don’t agree and insist they want to pay their fair share. The problem is most think they already are paying more than their fair share in taxes.

Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress don’t agree on much, and 70% blame partisan politics rather than honest policy differences

Voters may not approve of Planned Parenthood’s sale of the body organs of aborted babies, but they’re not ready to pull government funding from the group.

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from August 2-6, 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.

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.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.