Americans hold a deeply pessimistic view of the country in a new poll released ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union Address, with more than six in 10 saying the country is headed in the wrong direction and 70 percent dissatisfied with the economy.
In a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 68 percent say the country is either stagnant or worse off since Mr. Obama took office and 31 percent say it’s better off.
“It seems like we’ve been re-living the same basic dynamics — a public that is anxious, dissatisfied and dismayed — in a continuous loop,” said Democratic pollster Fred Yang, whose firm conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
Mr. Obama has a 43 percent approval rating and a 51 percent disapproval rating, essentially unchanged from a month ago.
“His personal standing has taken a … hit that makes trying to restore your job approval very difficult,” Mr. McInturff said.
At the same time, 81 percent disapprove of Congress and nearly twice as many people hold negative views of the Republican party as positive ones.
The GOP has a 24 percent/47 percent approve/disapprove split, compared to the Democratic party’s 37 percent/40 percent split.
Fifty-one percent of Americans say Republicans in Congress are too inflexible when dealing with the president, and 39 percent say the same of him.
The poll of 800 adults was conducted from Jan. 22-25 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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