by Carleen Johnson
A new poll of voters finds two thirds of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, with Democrats equally divided on the question.
The Center Square Voters’ Voice poll found 65% of voters said the country is headed in the wrong direction, 24% said the country is headed in the right direction and 11% were unsure.
When voters were asked the same question in late March, 62% said things were moving in the wrong direction, while 29% said things were moving in the right direction and 9% were unsure.
Broken down by party preference, the results are sharply delineated.
Among Republicans, 87% said the country is headed in the wrong direction, with just 8% saying the country heading is headed in the right direction and 5% unsure.
Among Democrats, 43% said America is heading in the right direction. An almost equal percentage – 42% – said the nation is headed in the wrong direction, with 16% of Democrats saying they are unsure.
Sixty-nine percent of voters who identify as independents said the country is headed in the wrong direction, 16% said America is headed in the right direction and 15% weren’t sure.
In the upcoming presidential election, Black and Hispanic voters could make the difference in whether President Joe Biden is re-elected, or former President Donald Trump earns a second, nonconsecutive term.
In the March poll, 59% of Hispanic voters said the country is going the wrong way. In last week’s poll, that number is up just slightly to 60%.
Among Black voters, 44% in last week’s poll said the country is going in the wrong direction. Back in March that number was only 35%.
“This is a big red flashing light that says ‘warning-warning,’” said David Byler of Noble Predictive Insights. “Democrats have a big problem here.”
Byler tells The Center Square, “Gone are the days when Barack Obama won Black voters 90 to 95%.
Byler cautioned that, in the 2020 election, actual results from Hispanic voters gave Trump slightly less of a bump than polls before the election indicated. Still he said, “Trump is doing a lot better with Black voters and a lot better with Hispanic voters than he was in 2020.”
In terms of income, 71% of likely voters making more than $100,000 a year said the country is going in the wrong direction. Of voters making less than $50,000, 63% said things are going the wrong way.
Gender seemed to make no difference in voter opinions, with 65% of women and 66% of men indicating the country is going in the wrong direction.
The poll was conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights from July 8-11 and surveyed nearly 2,300 likely voters, including 1,006 Republicans, 1,117 Democrats, and 172 true (non-leaning) independents. It has a margin of error of 2.1%. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States.
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Carleen Johnson is The Center Square’s Washington state government reporter. She has 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism in the Puget Sound region, including being a traffic reporter for at least 10 different radio stations in the area in the mid-1990s.
