America Off The Right Track, Onto The Wrong Track

The historical track of descent brought to us by the right wing government under President George W. Bush is marked by a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News asking people whether they believe that America is on the right track or the wrong track. In January 2001, the first month of George W. Bush’s presidency, 45 percent of Americans believed that their country was on the right track. Think that’s bad? Fewer than half that many now believe that America is on the right track. The same poll, conducted in December, 2007, found that only 22 percent of Americans think that their country is on the right track.

The dramatic decline in that poll is confirmed by a separate poll conducted by Gallup, asking Americans whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the way that things are going in the United States, found that though 56 percent of Americans were satisfied with how things were going in the United States in the first month of George W. Bush’s presidency, only 27 percent of Americans feel that way now, in December 2007.

This decline in positive feelings during the presidency of George W. Bush might have been due to a growth in uncertainty. It could have been the case that many Americans rushed to an undecided position. However, the two polls show that there has been a large growth in negative feelings about the course of the USA during the Bush presidency.

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that the rate of Americans expressing the feeling that America is on the wrong track rose from 36 percent in January, 2001 to 63 percent in December, 2007. The Gallup poll found that the rate of Americans feeling dissatisfied with how things are going in the United States rose from 41 percent in January, 2001 to 70 percent in December, 2007.

(Source: PollingReport.com)