27% Say U.S. Heading in the 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 March 19. 

This finding is down five points from the previous week and the lowest level of confidence this year. The number of voters who think the country is heading in the right direction has been 30% or higher every week but one since mid-December after being in the mid- to high 20s most weeks since mid-June 2013.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, up three points from the week before.

A year ago at this time, 29% felt the country was heading in the right direction, while 63% 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 March 15-19, 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.

The older the voter, the more likely he or she is to believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republicans and 68% of voters not affiliated with either major political party say the country is on the wrong track. Forty-three percent (43%) of Democrats agree, but slightly more (46%) think it’s heading in the right direction.

Black voters are also almost evenly divided over the direction of the country. Seventy-one percent (71%) of whites and 52% of other minority voters say America's headed down the wrong track.

The more money one earns, the more likely he or she is to think the country is heading in the right direction, but even among those who earn $100,000 or more a year, roughly half or more say the country is headed down the wrong track. 

Confidence that America is safer than it was before 9/11 is at its lowest level in nearly four years.

Following the shooting earlier this month of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, most voters think the media is overemphasizing shootings by the police and making their jobs more dangerous.

Most parents of elementary and secondary school children agree with celebrating some religious holidays in the schools, but they don't include the two Muslim holidays that Mayor Bill de Blasio recently added to the New York City public school calendar.

Most Americans have cable or satellite TV and don’t like the service they get.

Most see cloning of individual people as likely in the next 25 years but aren’t interested in bringing back a dead loved one.

Arguing that “a woman’s place is on the money,” an activist group wants to push President Andrew Jackson off the $20 bill and replace him with a famous woman from U.S. history. Americans think a former first lady might be a good candidate.

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