Right Direction or Wrong Track

22% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction, Lowest of Obama's Presidency

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Just 22% of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level of confidence found since before President Obama’s inauguration in January 2009.

According to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, March 13, 72% of voters now say the country is heading down the wrong track, also at its highest level since before the inauguration.

Confidence in the nation's current course hovered around the 30% mark for roughly a year until late October 2010 and then fell to a low of 23% in early to mid-December. But confidence began rising again at that time and hit a new high of 32% in late January.

Confidence that the country is moving in the right direction is at just 40% among Democrats, down from 59% the week before Election Day. Only 10% of Republicans and 17% of voters not affiliated with either major political party share that view.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats feel the country is heading down the wrong track, compared to 88% of GOP voters and 75% of unaffiliateds.

Leading up to Obama's inauguration in January 2009, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction remained below 20%. The week of his inauguration, voter confidence rose to 27% and then steadily increased to 40% in early May 2009. Confidence began dropping after that.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of Political Class voters believe the United States is heading in the right direction. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Mainstream voters think the country is going down the wrong track.

A plurality (46%) of black voters are confident in the nation's current course, a view shared by just 19% of whites and 26% of voters of other races.

Republicans hold a nine-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Support for repeal of the national health care law, passed by congressional Democrats a year ago, stands at 62%, the highest level since May of last year. The number of voters who believe the plan will increase the cost of care has tied its highest level since the law’s passage last March.

Only one-out-of-three (33%) workers nationwide expect to earn more money a year from now, marking the lowest level of optimism in nearly two years.

While the economy keeps stumbling along, voters continue to express little confidence in government as the solution.

Most Americans continue to believe the middle class pays a larger share in taxes than those who are wealthy, and they favor an income tax system where everyone pays the same percentage of their income.

A sizable number of voters think the government is not paying enough attention to the potential danger of domestic Islamic terrorism. Most voters still worry, too, about homegrown terrorist attacks.

The majority of voters don’t believe their fellow citizens are unfair to Muslim Americans. They also think Muslims in this country should be louder in their criticism of potential domestic terrorist attacks.

Most voters continue to favor strong sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. Voters also feel strongly that police should check the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops. Sixty-three percent (63%) say border control should be the top immigration priority.

The president announced as one of his first acts in office that he planned to close the Guantanamo prison camp for terrorists in Cuba, but political and legal complications have brought that effort to a halt. The president announced recently that the facility will remain open indefinitely and that trials of the inmates by military tribunals will resume there. Voters continue to support both decisions.

With gas prices soaring, the pressure's on the Obama administration to increase the number of permits for deepwater oil drilling. Right now, just 16% of voters have a favorable opinion of the man who'll grant those permits, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Forty-three percent (43%) of voters now worry that radiation released by the ongoing Japanese nuclear disaster is at least somewhat likely to reach to the United States.

www.rasmussenreports.com