Poll: Majority of Americans Say Things Going Well in U.S.

A majority of Americans say they believe things are going well in the United States, a new poll has found.

According to a CNN/ ORC International poll conducted Nov. 21-23 of 1,045 adults, 52 percent of people said things are going well, including 8 percent who said they were going very well. This compares to 48 percent who said things are going badly, including 33 percent who said things are going pretty badly, and 15 percent who said things are going very badly.

The results mark the most positive assessment of the state of the country since the poll began asking the question in January 2007.

The results also show that there has been a steady increase in optimism over the past few months, with the percentage of people saying things are going "very well" more than doubling. At the beginning of September, 44 percent of people said things are going well.

"[The poll] marks consistent improvement in the mood of the nation over the past few months, despite a series of national security crises and continued gridlock in Washington," CNN said.

The poll also found that sentiments regarding the economy have also improved over the last year. Two years ago, just 19 percent of people said the economy is starting to recover from the problems it had been facing. Today the figure is 32 percent.

And the number of people who think the economy is still in a downturn has dropped from 39 percent two years ago to 26 percent in the current poll.

A plurality, or 41 percent, say the economy has stabilized.

"But the mood isn't consistently positive in the new CNN/ORC poll — it suggests both a gender and geographic divide," CNN noted.

Specifically, men are more positive about the state of the nation and the economy than women. Fifty-five percent of men have a positive view about how well things are going with America compared to 48 percent of women. Thirty-six percent of men believe the economy is recovering compared to just 28 percent of women.

Meanwhile, people in the Northeast and Midwest expressed more optimism about the economy than those in the South and West, mirroring the actual differences in the conditions of the economy regionally, CNN said.

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