Poll: Majority of Americans Dissatisfied With Country's Direction

A new Gallup poll released on Tuesday shows the vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the country’s direction.

As President Joe Biden prepares to give his State of the Union address Tuesday night, 78% of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going, versus 21% who say they are satisfied.

Gallup noted that this satisfaction reading, from a Feb. 1-17 poll, is up slightly, from the 17% of Americans who said they were satisfied in January.

The most pressing concern for Americans seemed to be the economy, with 30% polled mentioning at least one problem, such as inflation.

A full 70% of respondents said they believe economic conditions are worsening, the highest number since April 2020.

On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s speech would reflect Americans’ concerns about the economy.

“First, let me say, the president will absolutely use the word inflation [Tuesday] and he will talk about inflation in his speech,'' Psaki said. ''Of course, that is a huge issue on the minds of Americans.''

Biden will reportedly unveil a new four-piece plan to tackle rising prices, which have sent his approval ratings plummeting. Democrats are worried about voters taking out their economic frustrations on their congressional majorities in November's midterm elections.

Among noneconomic issues, 20% of those surveyed said government and leadership continue to be problematic. This includes contrasting partisan perspectives, including criticisms of the Biden administration from the GOP and criticisms of congressional Republicans from Democrats, Gallup noted.

As the omicron variant continues to wane, the proportion of Americans citing COVID-19 as the top problem fell back to 13%, after reaching 20% in January.

The poll was conducted prior to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and only 2% said the situation with Russia was one of the reasons for their dissatisfaction.

The United States has levied heavy sanctions against Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and has not committed to sending troops to fight in the conflict.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 1 to Feb. 17 and surveyed 1,008 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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