With a large spread of just over 23%, far more Americans in a recent survey say they believe the country is heading in the wrong direction versus those who are satisfied with where things are going.
The survey, completed on November 10 by the site Economist/YouGov, revealed that 57.7% of respondents were not happy with the direction of things, compared with 37.2% who said they thought the country was heading in the right direction.
The spread is larger than other recent surveys exploring the same topic, including the Harvard-Harris poll and Rasmussen Reports.
Breaking down the Economist/YouGov results by gender reveals that only 23% of women said they were happy with the country’s direction, while 37% of men expressed similar satisfaction.
By age, just 20% of those in the 18 to 29 years old category thought the country was “generally headed in the right direction,” a figure that increased to 27% for those in the 30 to 44 years of age group. Those the happiest, but still expressing a decided minority view, were seen in the 45 to 64 years of age group, with 37% liking the current direction.
Perhaps not surprisingly, respondents who voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election were overwhelmingly happy with where things are heading, by a 63% to 28% margin.
By contrast only 11% of those who cast their ballots last fall for Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris were pleased with the country’s current direction. A very large 86% of Harris voters said they thought the country was on the wrong track.
Revealing an optimism that perhaps contradicts sometimes gloomy media reports, exactly 50% of respondents agreed with the statement: “It’s a big, beautiful world, mostly full of good people, and we must find a way to embrace each other and not allow ourselves to become isolated.”
By contrast only 35% said they agreed with the statement: “Our lives are threatened by terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants and our priority should be to protect ourselves.”
Finally, in a classic American response, nearly everyone, no matter their political leanings, said they believed the government is run by “mostly a few big interests” rather than working for “the benefit of all the people.”
An amazing result indicating a “Kumbaya” moment: 87% of those who voted for Harris said they thought the government was run by a few big interests, along with 72% of the Trump voters who said the same thing.
November 13, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Image courtesy of Pixabay
