Zogby Poll: More Americans Believe U.S. Is Headed in the Right Direction
Post-inauguration survey finds 52% give President Obama positive job approval ratings, while 19% remain unsure
UTICA, New York - Just 36% of likely voters have positive feelings about the direction the U.S. is headed in the first days of President Barack Obama's new administration, but there has been a dramatic increase from the 14% who felt the country was headed in the right direction earlier this month, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows. Fewer than half (45%) now believe the country is on the wrong track, compared to 70% who said so in early January. This post-inauguration survey finds nearly two-thirds of Democrats (62%) believe the country is headed in the right direction, compared to 31% of political independents and just 9% of Republicans who say the same. While the vast majority of Republicans (76%) now take a negative view of the country's direction, fewer than half of independents (45%) and one in five Democrats (19%) agree. The Zogby Interactive survey of 3,684 likely voters nationwide was conducted Jan. 22-26, 2009, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.7 percentage points. Job approval for Congress gets a boost, while many take 'wait and see' approach with Obama Congressional job approval has received a big boost, and now stands at 20%, up from a paltry 4% of likely voters who gave Congress a job performance rating of "excellent" or "good" just a few weeks ago. Democrats are more likely to give Congress positive job ratings (39%), compared to political independents (15%) and Republicans (2%). One in four (25%) of those who never shop at Wal-Mart approve of the job Congress is doing, compared to 16% of those who shop there weekly. Among NASCAR fans, 17% give Congress favorable job performance marks. Just over half (52%) give Obama a positive job performance rating for his first official days in office, while 29% give his job performance a negative rating, and another 19% are not sure. Democrats (80%) and political independents (52%) are most likely to give Obama high job performance marks, compared to just 17% of Republicans. One in four Republicans (25%) and nearly as many independents (22%) were unsure about his job performance so far and did not give him a ranking, compared to half as many Democrats (13%). Younger likely voters, age 18-24, are more likely to give Obama positive marks (56%), and are most likely to have made up their minds early, with just 10% who are unsure about his job performance so far. Among weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, 42% give the new president favorable job scores, compared to 69% of likely voters who never shop there. Just 39% of NASCAR fans give Obama a positive job performance rating. U.S. economic policy still gets strong negative ratings, but shows some improvement The vast majority of likely voters - 85% - give negative ratings to U.S. economic policy, which is a decline from the 95% who said the same earlier this month. Just 8% give the nation's economic policy a positive rating, a slight improvement from the 4% who said the same several weeks ago. When it comes to their personal financial situation, just 37% give it a positive rating, compared to 62% who paint their personal financial picture as "fair" or "poor." One in five (20%) express insecurity about their current job, which is largely unchanged from Zogby International polling in early January. For a detailed methodological statement on this survey, please visit: http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.cfm?ID=1386 (1/28/2009)