25% Say Country is Heading in the Right Direction

Twenty-five percent (25%) 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 December 1.

That's down one point from 26% the previous week. In early October during the federal government shutdown, confidence in the country’s course fell to 13%, the lowest finding in five years. A year ago, 41% said the country was heading in the right direction.

During President Obama’s first months in office, the number of voters who felt the country was headed in the right direction rose steadily to 40% in early May 2009. In 2010 and 2011, confidence fell to the narrow range of 14% to 19%, levels similar to those measured in the final months of the George W. Bush administration. Optimism began easing up again in mid-December 2011.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track, unchanged from the week before and down from a recent high of 80% in October. From January 2009 until October 2012, belief that the country was on the wrong track ranged from 55% to 80%, but it tracked in the low 50s from just before Election Day until early December last year.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on November 25-26 and December 1, 2013. 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. 

Thanks in large part to the problems surrounding the national health care law, President Obama’s daily job ratings remain at the lowest levels of his entire presidency.

Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 73% of voters not affiliated with either major political party still think the country is on the wrong track. Among Democrats, 46% believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 42% think it's on the wrong track.

Most black voters feel the country is heading in the right direction. Most whites and other minority voters disagree.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters under 40 think the country’s on the wrong track, a view shared by roughly 70% of their elders.

Eighty-eight percent (88%) of conservative voters and 66% of moderates say the country is on the wrong track, but 53% of liberal voters think the country is heading in the right direction. 

Fifty percent (50%) of all voters believe Congress and the president should repeal the new national health care law and start over again. Another 31% think Congress and the president should go through the law piece by piece to improve it. 

Republicans have retaken the lead in the latest Generic Congressional Ballot – with a five point edge.

The Rasmussen Employment Index which measures worker confidence jumped five points in November. October’s finding was the lowest level of confidence measured this year.

Despite the generally pessimistic perception of the country's direction, 85% of Americans said they had something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

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