Just 34% of American voters think the U.S. is heading in the right
direction. This is a slight two-point increase from the 32% who said the
same thing in the last week of October.
During much of the last year of Barack Obama’s presidency, the number
of Americans who though the country was going in the right direction
was in the mid- to upper-20s. In the first month of Donald Trump’s
presidency, it climbed to the mid- to upper-40s.
Meanwhile, 60% of American voters think the U.S. is heading down the
wrong track; that’s two points lower from the end of October.
Among American voters who “strongly approve” of the job Trump is
doing, 81% think the country is going in the right direction. At the
other end of the spectrum, 97% of American voters who “strongly
disapprove” of the president’s job performance say the U.S. is on the
wrong track.
Last year at this point, 30% of voters said the nation was heading in
the right direction, while 63% said it was derailing and running down
the wrong track.
Before Trump won the White House, Democrats were, as one would
expect, more likely than Republicans and independent voters to think the
U.S. was heading in the right direction.
Fast-forward to today, and a whopping 82% of Democrats think the
nation is heading down the wrong path. Compare that to 52% of
Republicans who believe the U.S. is heading in the right direction.
Republicans might be getting more pessimistic; that’s actually down
seven points (from 59%) from the end of October.
Read more: Americans remain downbeat, 34% U.S. heading in right direction