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29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction for the second week in a row, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, May 15. 

The new finding is up eight points from three weeks ago, which marked the lowest measure of confidence to date since President Obama assumed office in late January 2009.  The number saying the country is headed in the right direction has ranged from a low of 21% to a high of 35% since Obama's inauguration.  

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters now say the country is heading down the wrong track, also unchanged from last week. Since January 2009, pessimism about the country's direction has ranged from 57% to 72%.

Leading up to Obama's inauguration, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction remained below 20%. The week of his inauguration, voter confidence rose to 27% and climbed into the low to mid-30s until mid-May of that year. Since then, belief that the country is heading in the right direction has been trending lower.  

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