27% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-seven percent (27%) 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 September 3.

This finding is up one point from 26% a week ago.

Every week from late December through the beginning of March, 30% or more of voters said the country is heading in the right direction, but then the weekly findings fell back into the mid- to high 20s. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions upholding Obamacare and gay marriage in late June, the number of voters who said the country is heading in the right direction again climbed into the low 30s for three weeks but then trended back into the 20s.

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters now believe the nation is headed down the wrong track, down two points from the last survey.

A year ago at this time, 26% felt the country was heading in the right direction, while 65% 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 August 30-September 3, 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-six percent (86%) of Republicans and 67% of voters not affiliated with either major political party think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats agree but by a much narrower 48% to 42% margin.

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

Only 42% of blacks think the country is headed the wrong way, compared to 71% of whites and 60% of other minority voters.

Higher-income voters are not as pessimistic as those who earn less, although most voters in all income groups agree the country is headed in the wrong direction.

President Obama earned a monthly job approval of 46% in August, his low for the year to date and a level he last reached in August 2014.

Americans hoped the election of the first black president in 2008 would help heal the racial division that has plagued this country for much of its history, but nearly half of voters think Obama has driven the races further apart instead.

Perhaps the most visible manifestation of racial division these days is the growing tension between the police and black Americans, especially those in the inner city. Following the recent murders of white police officers in Texas and Illinois, 58% of voters think there is a war on police in America today.

Increasing problems in the inner city including rocketing murder rates have prompted a number of politicians to call for more government funding aimed at low-income Americans. But most continue to question the effectiveness of federal poverty programs and think too many are already dependent on the government’s dime.

Eighty percent (80%) of voters regard illegal immigration as a serious problem in America today, with 50% who describe it as a Very Serious one.

It’s back-to-school time across the country. But how do Americans feel about their schools these days and the graduates they are turning out?

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