Poll: 70 percent say US headed in wrong direction, highest since September 2017

Seventy percent of respondents to a poll released Tuesday say the country is moving in the “wrong direction,” the highest level since September 2017.

The AP-NORC survey, conducted during the record-long 35-day partial government shutdown, found that only 28 percent of respondents said the United States is on the right course.

{mosads}The “wrong direction” share of respondents is up from 59 percent in December and is the highest since 74 percent in the month after the August 2017 deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va.

A majority of respondents, 52 percent, said in the most recent poll that they expect conditions to worsen in 2019, with 22 percent saying they see improvement on the horizon.

Republicans were more optimistic than Democrats — 55 percent of GOP respondents said the country heading in the right direction, a view shared by 9 percent of Democrats.

Most people disapproved of President Trump’s handling of all 10 issues they were presented. The president’s handling of climate change prompted the worst results among the 10 areas, with 68 percent of respondents disapproving.

Researchers surveyed 1,062 Americans from Jan. 16-20. The poll’s margin of error is 4.1 percentage points.

The government shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, ended on Jan. 25.