Tracking Trump - Direction of the Country for February 16th
Bottom Line: For years, despite generally favorable approval ratings for President Obama, we'd collectively been unhappy with the overall direction of our country. In the first year of the Trump Presidency we saw the scenario reversed (with a more optimistic country but lower approval of President Trump).
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
Right Direction: 30%
Wrong Track: 59%
Net: -29%
Last Week:
Right Direction: 40%
Wrong Track: 54%
Net: -14%
And Today:
Right Direction: 38%
Wrong Track: 53%
Net: -15%
Change: +14% under Trump & -1% from last week
There are only three times in the past ten years in which we've been as optimistic as a country as we are today. That sounds odd when there are still 15% more dissatisfied with our country's direction but we're typically a pessimistic bunch in that regard. It's evident that the best economy in well over a decade, the impact of tax reform starting to be felt and the President's well received State of the Union address are culminating in a meaningfully improved outlook generally.
On another note...For months in the weekly look at President Trump's approval rating I've broken out the difference in Trump's approval rating based on the level of political engagement. Simply put, the more engaged someone is the higher the President's approval rating. We're also seeing that show up in the direction of the country questions. Consider...
On the question of whether the country is heading in the right direction...
With adult only samples: 32%
With Registered voters: 38%
With Likely voters: 43%
That's a remarkably large spread – the largest I've ever seen on this topic and once again demonstrates the differences in our views of the country based on the level of one's political information and engagement.