Poll finds 71% of Americans believe country is on wrong track

The latest NBC/WSJ poll shows the view of the direction of the country has flatlined.(NBC/WSJ)

WASHINGTON (WMTV) - Seventy-one percent of Americans in our latest NBC News poll saying the country is headed in the wrong direction. It is the eighth time in the last nine NBC News surveys dating back to Oct. 2021 when the wrong track has been above 70%. The one exception was in Sept. 2022, when it was 68%.

The NBC News’ poll has never before recorded this level of sustained pessimism in the 30-year-plus history of the poll. That includes the 1992 recession, when a year of NBC/WSJ polls had the wrong track between 67% and 71% before improving right after the presidential election.

Or the Great Recession of 2008, when Barack Obama’s election and inauguration ended a year of NBC/WSJ polls of the wrong track being near or above 70%.

But this current pessimism has been going on for nearly a year and a half – even after an election.

“Elections are supposed to act as a chance to refresh and reset, and that did not happen [after the 2022 midterms],” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, the GOP half of the NBC News poll.

What’s more, when our poll asked respondents how they feel about where America is headed over the next year, 69% gave negative words and phrases, versus 23% who had positive ones.

That’s a change from two years ago, right before President Biden’s inauguration, when just 52% had negative words and phrases on this question.

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