70% in US say country headed the wrong way: Poll

A large majority of people in the United States say America is headed the wrong way and are pessimistic about the state of the country, according to a new survey.

News ID: 443294

Date: 03 February 2019 - 09:51

RNA - Just 28 percent of Americans think the US is headed in the right direction, while 70 percent say America is on the wrong track, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The percentage of those saying the country is on the wrong track now is at its highest point in about a year. The figure was 59 percent in December.

A majority of Americans, 52 percent, are also are pessimistic about the state of the US and believe things are going to get worse over the next year.

While Democratic Party voters are far more likely than Republican voters to feel negative about the direction of the country, even Republican pessimism is growing.

The remarkable level of national gloom is even beginning to extend to how Americans view the economy, once a relative bright spot in America’s mood. A slight majority of Americans still has positive feelings about the national economy, but many expect it to decline in the next year.

About half of Americans, 53 percent, describe the economy as generally good. But looking ahead, they’re more likely to expect the economy to get worse than better, 44 percent to 27 percent.

The AP-NORC survey also found that only 34 percent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, compared with 65 percent who disapprove.

The poll was conducted during the longest government shutdown in US history, the result of Trump’s demand to deliver on his campaign pledge to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The partial government shutdown of 2018–2019 occurred after Trump and Congress failed to agree on an appropriations bill to fund the operations of the federal government. Trump had demanded that the bill should include $5.7 billion for building a border wall, which Democrats strongly oppose.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released last week found that 48 percent of Americans say they have no confidence “at all” in the president.

The poll found that Trump’s overall job approval rating was at 37 percent, the lowest on record for any president after two years in office in polls back 72 years.

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