Title
AP:Most Sat US on Wrong Track
Link
AP-Ipsos poll: Most say US on wrong track - Yahoo! News
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Excerpt
AP-Ipsos poll: Most say US on wrong track
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press WriterThu Jun 19, 2:12 PM ET
Wherever the nation should be headed, this isn't it.
The number of Americans who believe the country is moving in the wrong direction has risen sharply, to nearly eight in ten, amid soaring food and gas prices, falling home values and unending war. Just 17 percent say the country is going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.
The right-direction number is the lowest ever recorded by the survey, which began in 2003. When other surveys are taken into account, the general level of pessimism is the worst in almost 30 years.
And it's getting worse. The 17 percent positive reading was down from 24 percent just since April.
Those who said the country was on the wrong track totaled 76 percent of the people contacted in the survey, which was taken from June 12-16. That's up from 71 percent in April and 66 percent near the end of 2007.
Six in ten of those who chose wrong track blamed the struggling economy, with gasoline prices hovering above $4 a primary reason. "Poor leadership" accounted for 23 percent, while 20 percent said the war in Iraq.
Robert Ovitt, 57, of Derby, Vt., who describes himself as a political independent, was among those who selected "wrong track."
"It scares me, the way things are going now," said Ovitt, who is facing retirement in the next five years from his job as a correctional officer.
"Ten years ago, we had a Democratic president, Clinton," and the worst that happened was his affairs, Ovitt said. Back then, gas prices, interest rates, unemployment and the federal budget deficit were low, he said. "Now that we have a Republican, everything is sky high. ... I mean I don't know how we're going to survive."
Shirley J. Bailey, 70, of Las Vegas, is already retired. The former Los Angeles dentist, who worked as a precinct captain for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, said, "People are struggling to live and educate their children." Married with four children and 11 grandchildren, Bailey said, "Just look around us. In my entire lifetime, I never paid $4.23 for a gallon of gas. The foreclosures are among the highest here in Las Vegas."
President Bush's approval rating was 29 percent in the poll, near his all-time low of 28 percent in April, while 67 percent said they disapproved of the way he was handling his job.
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Comment:
Don't forget this important news.
Voters don't want status quo.