July 30, 2010 11:59 PM
State of the Nation
Public opinion as to whether the country is headed in the right direction has shown little change in the last 4 months. The wrong track numbers continue to edge up in the NBC/WSJ survey, while the right direction number has not moved.| NBC/WSJ
RD/WT |
NYT/CBS
RD/WT |
WP/ABC RD/WT |
|
| June | 29/61% | 32/60% | xxxx |
| March | 33/59% | xxxx | 38/60% |
| February | xxxx | 33/62% | xxxx |
| January 2010 | 34/54% | 36/55% | 37/62% |
| December | 33/55% | 37/56% | xxxx |
| October | 35/52% | xxxx | 44/54% |
| September | 39/48% | 41/53% | xxxx |
| August | xxxx | xxxx | 44/55% |
| July | 39/49% | 42/49% | xxxx |
| June | 42/46% | 44/50% | 47/50% |
| April | 43/43% | 39/53% | 50/48% |
| February 2009 | 41/44% | 23/68% | 31/67% |
Satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States is at 21% in July, only slightly better than the 19% recorded in early March. It did hit 27% in April.
It is no surprise that Democrats (30%) are more positive than Republicans (11%) and Independents (20%). Democrats hit a momentary high of 47% satisfaction in April, but it has fallen steadily since then. [Gallup]
60% favor further stimulus spending to create jobs. [Gallup]
Given their choice, 50% of Americans think that the first priority of immigration reform should be to halt the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. 45% would prefer to start with a plan to deal with immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.
50% also oppose the law suit brought by the Federal government against Arizona's new immigration law. 33% favor the law suit. [Gallup]
The most important problems facing the country today are:
- Economy in general 31%
- Unemployment/Jobs 22%
- Dissatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians’ poor leadership/corruption/abuse of power 11%
Only 5% of Americans oppose the National Day of Prayer that was designated by Congress in 1952.
By 47% to 45% the country is pro-life as opposed to pro-choice. From 1995 through May 2009, pro-choice always came out on top, even if only by a small margin. But since May 2009 the pro-life position has had the larger amount of support.
45% say that the overall state of moral values in this country today is fair/poor, while 15% say they are excellent/good. 75% believe that moral values are getting worse.
52% find gay/lesbian relations morally acceptable. 61% of Democrats and Independents share this view. 35% of Republicans hold the view. [Gallup]
