Washington – It’s bleak out there. Men and women, whites and minorities – all are feeling a war-weary pessimism about the country seldom shared by so many people.
Only 25 percent of those surveyed say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. That is about the lowest level of satisfaction detected since the survey started in December 2003.
Rarely have longer-running polls found such a rate since the even gloomier days of 1992 ahead of President George H.W. Bush’s loss to Bill Clinton.
The current glumness is widely blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq and with President Bush.
Women and minorities are less content than men and whites, which has been true for years. But all four groups are at or near record lows for the AP-Ipsos poll, and at unusually low levels for older surveys as well.
Ann Bailey, 69, a retired school secretary in Broken Arrow, Okla., is a conservative who believes the country is on the wrong track. That sentiment should raise alarms for Republicans hoping to hold the White House and recapture Congress.
She cites a widespread lack of honesty plus immigration, gasoline prices and Iraq – where a son and grandson are serving.
Three in 10 men and two in 10 women said they think the country is on the right track, down from nearly half of each who felt that way in late 2003.
By race, 28 percent of whites and 18 percent of minorities said the same – just over half their rates of optimism from late 2003.
Asked in April why they felt things were veering in the wrong direction, one-third overall volunteered the war and one-fourth blamed poor leadership.
When voter optimism hits such low levels, “It’s not being driven by any specific group. It’s a general kind of malaise that’s across the board,” Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said.
Today’s numbers could bode ill for Republicans and are reflected in polls that show voters prefer the Democratic Party to the GOP – without naming specific candidates – to win the White House next year.
“You connect the dots back to Bush. He’s done more to undermine their brand than we could have done spending millions of dollars,” said Cornell Belcher, who polls for Democrats.
While 52 percent of Republican men said the country is heading the right way, only 33 percent of GOP women agreed.
