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26% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-six percent (26%) 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 June 25.

This finding is down two points from 28% the week before and ties the low for the year first reached in April. From late December through the beginning of March, 30% or more of voters said every week that the country was heading in the right direction, but the weekly findings have fallen back into the mid- to high 20s since then.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, up two points from a week ago.

A year ago at this time, findings were identical, 26% to 67%.

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The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from June 21-25, 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-seven percent (87%) of Republicans and 71% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats are almost evenly divided. 

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

Seventy-two percent (72%) of whites and 62% of other minority voters believe the country is headed down the wrong track, but just 43% of black voters agree.

Liberals are more confident in the direction of the country than conservatives and moderates are. 

The more strongly a voter approves of President Obama's performance, the more likely he or she is to think the country is headed in the right direction. 

The president got a boost last week from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a questionable provision in the new national health care law. Most voters still have problems with Obamacare and think it will increase health care costs and hurt the quality of care.

The high court also ruled last week in favor of gay marriage, although voters are still fairly divided over the issue.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters believe it is important for someone to be married before they have children.

Voters still think most people get rich by working hard.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is ready to release new regulations meant to forcibly diversify wealthy neighborhoods, but voters overwhelmingly say it is not the government’s job to make those of different income levels to live together

Most voters continue to believe the federal government is a supporter, not an opponent, of illegal immigration, and even more are in favor of imposing tougher sanctions on those who hire or rent property to those who are in this country illegally.

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The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from June 21-25, 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.

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