25% Say Country is Heading in the Right Direction

Just one-in-four Likely U.S. Voters (25%) think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending November 17.

This marks little change from the previous two weeks when 24% felt the country was headed the right way. Still, it's an improvement from early last month when confidence in the country’s course fell to 13% during the partial federal government shutdown. It was the lowest finding in five years. The week before Election Day a year ago, 43% 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 eight percent (68%) of voters now think the country is headed down the wrong track, also little changed from last week but down from a recent high of 80% last month. 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.

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The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on November 11-17, 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. 

With problems continuing to plague the launch of the new national health care law, the total number of voters who disapprove of the president's job performance rose to 56% today, the highest level of disappointment since December 1, 2011.

Eighty eight percent (88%) of Republicans and 75% of voters not affiliated with either major political party still think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats are evenly divided.

Blacks remain much more positive about the country’s direction than whites and other minority voters.

Fifty eight percent (58%) of voters under 40 think the country’s on the wrong track, but older voters are even more pessimistic.

Eighty nine percent (89%) of conservative voters and 67% of moderates think the country is on the wrong track, but just 36% of liberals share that view.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters now view the new national health care law unfavorably, the highest level of disapproval this year.

Fifty-five percent (55%) now consider the federal government a threat to their individual rights.

Just over half (52%) of Americans are even somewhat confident in the stability of the nation’s banks five years after the Wall Street meltdown.

Republicans have rebounded from a seven-point deficit a month ago during the government shutdown to take a one-point lead over Democrats – 40% to 39% - on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot. 

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