30% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Thirty percent (30%) 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 1. 

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 has been 30% or higher since mid-December after being in the mid- to high 20s most weeks since mid-June 2013.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, up one point from last week.

A year ago at this time, 28% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 64% thought it was headed down the wrong track.

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The national telephone survey of 2,800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from February 23-March 1, 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.

Most men and women and voters 40 and over agree the country is headed down the wrong track. Half of voters under 40 agree, while 38% think it’s going in the right direction.

Forty-eight percent (48%) of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans and 66% of voters not affiliated with either major political party disagree.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of white voters think the country is on the wrong track, compared to 38% of blacks and 52% of other minority voters.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of the Political Class say right direction; 71% of Mainstream voters think wrong track.

The Rasmussen Employment Index which measures worker confidence rose a point in February to tie the highest level measured in six years.

Americans are on pace with last year when it comes to filing their income taxes but are slightly less optimistic that they’ll receive a refund. And while they hate filling out tax paperwork, they're not too worried about being audited after the fact.

However, Americans feel more strongly than ever that the middle class pays a larger share of their income in taxes than the wealthy do and continue to overwhelmingly reject the notion that the United States has the world’s best tax system.

Just before his planned speech to Congress yesterday, voters were a bit more open to the idea of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the legislature about Iran despite strong protest from the White House. Most say it's important whether their congressional representative attended the speech.

President Obama's full-month job approval dropped a point in February.

From a list of five frequently cited complaints, 32% of American Adults think the biggest problem in schools today is not enough funding.

Support for gay marriage has fallen to its lowest level in over a year, with voters now almost evenly divided on the issue.

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