29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-nine percent (29%) 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 5. 

This finding is down one point from the previous week. The week ending January 25, the percentage of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction hit 35%, the highest level of confidence in nearly two years, but has been trending down since then. The number of voters who think the country is heading in the right direction had been 30% or higher 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 two points from the week before.

A year ago at this time, voters held an identical view of the country’s trajectory.

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The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from March 1-5, 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.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans and 71% of voters not affiliated with either major political party disagree.

Black voters by 50% to 42% margin think the country is headed in the right direction. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of whites and 57% of other minority voters say it's headed down he 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 60% say the country is headed down the wrong track.

The fallout continues in Ferguson, Missouri, following a Justice Department report accusing the city government of a widespread pattern of racial discrimination. But in most inner city communities, is racism the real problem?  Not according to 70% of voters who say the level of crime in low-income inner city communities is a bigger problem in America today than police discrimination against minorities.

More than half of voters now oppose stricter gun control laws, and belief that the country needs stricter enforcement of laws that already exist is also down.

Voters still give positive marks to their local environment but think the environment as a whole is getting worse.

Most voters continue to believe federal government policies encourage illegal immigration.

When Americans are asked which is worse, going to the dentist or filing their income taxes, it’s a close call.

Crosstabs and historical data are available to Platinum Members only.

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