Gallup: "29% of Americans satisfied with the way things are going"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

March 20, 2006
National Satisfaction Lowest in More Than a Decade
Just 29% satisfied with direction of nation

by Jeffrey M. Jones

http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=21982

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll finds Americans' expressed satisfaction with the way things are going in the country is the lowest it has been in more than a decade. Americans continue to cite Iraq as the most important problem facing the country; the economy, terrorism, healthcare, and dissatisfaction with government officials are also mentioned frequently.

Twenty-nine percent of Americans are now satisfied "with the way things are going in the United States at this time," according to the March 13-16 poll. Sixty-eight percent are currently dissatisfied. Satisfaction has declined significantly over the past month after being at 35% in February and at about that level so far this year. The last time satisfaction fell below 30% was in January 1996, when only 24% of Americans were satisfied.

Satisfaction has dropped a total of 15 percentage points from where it was just before the 2004 election. Just prior to George W. Bush's re-election, 44% of Americans were satisfied. The decline has been gradual, with an occasional blip upward. The first noticeable drop was in late March 2005, after the federal government intervened in the Terri Schiavo matter. Satisfaction declined in late August and stayed low in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in early September. It dropped to the low 30s in October and November as views of the economy grew somewhat more negative, before recovering to some degree as 2005 drew to a close.



Satisfaction is thought to be an important predictor of election outcomes. Gallup's current polling on this year's congressional midterm election suggests that Democrats are currently strongly positioned in relation to Republicans. The current level of satisfaction is similar to what Gallup measured in 1992, when the elder George Bush was denied a second presidential term, and in 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress in Bill Clinton's first presidential term.

[IsItJustMe]

1. Armagedon on track I guess.

[raysr]

2. That's a RW majority!

[rpannier]

3. Now we know how many billionaires and fundie nut-jobs there are

[Dunvegan]

4. Should the wording have reflected the majority, i.e., How UNSATSFIED...

...American's are?

Right-wing MSM/Pollsters. Feh.

[Telly Savalas]

6. The headline was "National Satisfaction Lowest in More Than a Decade"

The tracking chart displays both "satisfied" and "unsatisfied" and the analysis suggests that this is a good predictor for election results, so the Democrats are sitting pretty.

How can you possibly accuse this article of having a conservative bias?

[joeprogressive]

5. That makes sense

when you consider 1%% of the population are millionaires and 28% are really stupid.