8 Of 10 Say US Headed The Wrong Way

Americans are gloomier about the direction of the country than at any point since 1992, and Democrats have matched their biggest advantage in 25 years as the party better able to deal with the nation's main problems, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Despite more than eight in 10 now saying the country is headed in the wrong direction and growing disaffection with the Republican Party, Sen. John McCain, the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, remains competitive in a general election matchup with Sen. Barack Obama, the favorite for the Democratic nomination, and runs almost even with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Those findings indicate that McCain continues to elude some of the anger aimed at his party and at President Bush, whose own approval dipped to an all-time low in Post-ABC polling. Maintaining a separate identity will be a key to McCain's chances of winning the White House in November. Overall, Democrats enjoy a 21-point advantage over Republicans as the party best-equipped to handle the nation's problems.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[ResidentChimp]

I guess Obama supporters have better judgement than I gave them credit for.

[Photofarm]

And the really sad part is that all three Presidential candidates are going to make things worse, not better. The big problem is they all bought into the Man causing Global Warming lie, and they all will destroy the economy trying to change the climate which man can't do, and no scientist knows how to do it.

[EinChicago]

Whether GOP luddites believe in global warming or not, the fact remains that the rest of the world does. Missing out on the chance to be at the forefront of the economic boom that will come from the demand for green tech is idiotic.

[Photofarm]

Sorry, Global Warming is occurring, and it appears now Global Cooling. The bottom line though is man can't change either outcome. So what you really have is not economic growth, but political favoritism, which never provides a good outcome.

[Blurp]

We were gloomier in 1992? That poll is way off.

[magen]

"Americans are gloomier about the direction of the country than at any point since 1992"

And who was pResident at that time again? Poppy Bush. And weren't we coming off of 12 years of republiCON rule with 8 years of Reagan and then Poppy?

And what was the catchphrase of the time? It's the economy stupid.

Same perpetrators, same policies. Can we reject these people and policies once and for all and never let it happen again? The evidence of how destructive republiCON policies are to the average American is well documented and right in front of our faces.

[white_mende_man]

Just wondering when the other 2 out of 10 will catch on...

[Marlyn]

"Obama and McCain are more evenly matched on leadership and personal and ethical standards." ???

What an F*ing joke!

[speakingtruth2power]

So why do we keep electing BIG DEBT Rethuglicons?

Maybe because they own the MSM and Bushit US???

They tell US that more debt doesn't matter as long as

the stock market keeps going up & that lowering taxes

for the rich will trickle down to the middle class & poor.

Their MSM tells US these lies over & over & over again.

BIG DEBT Rethuglicons and their MSM use FEAR and

loathing to convince US that there are TRILLION$ for

their WAR but little for the services the people need!!

We definitely NEED a new Fairness Doctrine, ASAP!

ST2P.

[john85msy]

And if people vote because of race instead of policy it will only get worse. The rich will get richer and the porr will get poorer.

[john85msy]

And most of the middle class will go backwards.

[white_mende_man]

what middle class?

[dumboldfarmer]

A year or so ago, I visited a place near where I grew up. There is a flood control dam there. The dam was built in the 1930's. I could not believe when I saw it just how bad the condition of the dam was.
The concrete was crumbling. I took many photos and sent them to the people supposedly in charge of these things. Never received so much as a thanks.
The dam is about 600 feet high. Normally, there is no water behind it. But, I have seen times when the water climbed halfway up behind the dam. If something like that were to happen now, and the spillways collapsed, it would be a big catastrophe.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

I consider myself an independent realist, I have voted Republican in the past, but the GOP has just gotten to ideological, similar to the Radical Republicans caucus created after the Civil War, which made a mess of reconstruction. Movement conservatives hate government, so they seek to take it down with stupid privatizing schemes, with the promise of reducing taxes, yet government grew under both Regan and Bush 43. When Bush 41 broke his promise on taxes after facing the reality of the mess that Regan left, movement conservatives though him under the bus.

Christian Conservatives, after overreaching for the last 7 years; they are now looking for issues that a majority of the country actually wants. Fundamentalist like Hagee and phonies like Moon are so weird they will scare mainstream Americans if a light was ever really shown on them. After the documentary Jesus Camp came out, Pastor Becky got so much negative response from ordinary people who though that she was running a brain washing mill in ND, that she has since close the camp down. Pastor Becky came off angry and really weird in the film.

Last but not least the neo-cons, New Left internationalist, who think every problem in the world can be dealt with by preemptive war, few have ever been in the military, yet like to play war. The ideological tent of the GOP is far to crowd with conflicting interest and the realists are being pushed out.

[cdnnewsjunky]

" Movement conservatives hate government, so they seek to take it down with stupid privatizing schemes, with the promise of reducing taxes, yet government grew under both Regan and Bush 43." - BPCentrisAmerican

Not just in America, Canada's right has been hijacked as well. Here a small regional party, that was traditionally anti-government has formed a minority government, but still acts as if they are in opposition, by continually arguing with or trying to dismantle government institutions such as Elections Canada and the Atomic Energy Commission.

At one time in this country it wasn't exactly easy to see the differences between the right and the left, they both tried to crowd the other one out from a centrist position but the right now seem to be slowly polarizing to further ends of the spectrum and the left seems to be shifting more to the right to fill the vacuum. It's more like watching a science project than a political process, lol.

[JMEB]

What needs to pounded home, then, is that McCain represents the wishes of 2/10 Americans, NOT HALF.

I'd love to have side-by-sides of him and Obama debating with Obama covering 80% of the screen, and McCain 20% of the screen. Why does McCain get equal coverage when he's a borderline-fringe candidate?

Arianna got this right in her book. It has to be pointed out again and again and again and again. The GOP is completely out of touch with 80% of Americans!

If you think:
- the Iraq war was a good idea
- rising prosperity is only a good thing when you're already rich
- our healthcare system is great and certainly doesn't need any improvement
Then go ahead and vote McCain. But be sure to take off your aluminum-foil hat before entering the polling booth - it interferes with the Diebold voting machines.

[Myshkin57]

I'm betting the other roughly 2-in-10 are only happy with the direction because they're thinking about January 20, 2009 getting closer.

[eej]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2096/2475513320_86244895f9.jpg?v=0

Taken the day thousands died or were stranded in Katrina.

[cdnnewsjunky]

"Taken the day thousands died or were stranded in Katrina." - eej

The caption on the photo should say " Let them eat cake", okay, okay, Marie meant a different kind of cake, but still, same attitude.

[colibri1]

Yeah, like several other commenters have said, note the year: 1992, the tail end of 12 years of the original Reaganomics, a program that ushered in the US's downturn in so many areas. And, though the Clinton years were better enough for some that the public was more optimistic, Clinton unfortunately only continued Reagan's programs, intensifying some of the worst aspects of Reagan's egregious restructuring of the US. And of course we're all familiar with Bush II's hyper-Reaganism that's brought us to where we are today. And, unlike in many other countries, if the Republicans steal another election, the US public will do next to nothing about it and most won't even care.

[MikeDu]

Who the heck are those 2 out of 10 who think everything's going just ducky? Do they perhaps run pawn shops and repo businesses? This statistic can cut both ways. The non-brain-damaged wing of the electorate electorate see the nation spiraling into chaos due to the excesses of the fascist right. The brain-damaged wing of the electorate fear the country in falling into the hands of commie hippie muslim UN-loving atheists, and so in their opinion is also going in the wrong direction.

[Teritt]

Mikedu- here's my answer to your question:
Bush's base - the top 2% that got all that extra money, and all the winners of those no-bid contracts that made (or stole) billions of our tax dollars

[andyboy]

Notice the year when the level of optimism was last so low. Right at the end of the first George Bush's abortion of an administration. Republicans are just pretty much fuck ups. It's like putting a felon on parole. You know the chances are their going to go right back out and start offending again but the good guy in you wants to give them another chance. Especially after they get cleaned up and put their flag pin on and salute a couple times.

You'll always have your idiots like Huffjob who will vote for virtually any slimebag who calls himself a Republican.

It's a weird indivudual who actually wants to be associated with abject failure and insipid greed.

[cdnnewsjunky]

"It's a weird indivudual who actually wants to be associated with abject failure and insipid greed."
- andyboy

The insipid greed doesn't bother them, and as for the abject failure, that's always the fault of someone else.

[Nova16]

The neocon fascists alway minimize the numbers killed in Iraq to dupe the American public into believing Bush's phony war has some legtimacy. They are now trying to minimize 7+ years of Bush administration malfeasance and misfeasance in order to maintain control and power of the government for greed and profit to the detriment and harm of the country and the American people. It has been stated jokingly that McCain, if elected, would be in essence Bush's third term. VOTE REPUBLICAN AT YOUR PERIL!

[Graywolf48]

Voters think we're headed in the wrong direction. Yet so many people complain that if Obama is the nominee they'll vote McCain. Likewise if Clinton is nominated. Voters in States where the economy and the infrastructure is broken due to 8 years of Republican mismanagement and corruption, whose sons and daughters are being killed and maimed in a war based on lies and is costing us dearly will not vote or will vote for McCain. The rich get richer and the poor descend into the abyss of poverty and despair because "safety nets" are cut or removed. These folks will not vote or will vote for McCain. Prices soar and corporations make obscene profits, awash in cash and we are told the wealthy need more "tax cuts" so that cash can "trickle down" to us. Those in fear of losing their homes are told they have no one to blame but themselves. Jobs pour overseas, McCain says all is well. He opposes a GI Bill because it may entice vets to leave the military for college. Veterans suffer inadequate care but their friends and families will not vote for Obama because he's black, or Muslim, or elite or "too liberal", will increase taxes and spending. Nor will they vote for Clinton because, well, she's a Clinton or a woman or a... whatever. The Republican propaganda machine continues to play "Joe six pack" like the sucker he is and in November it will be President McCain!

[Marlyn]

"if Obama is the nominee they'll vote McCain. Likewise if Clinton is nominated." ???

Well then, according to your reasoning, Graywolf48, if the Democrats choose a nominee, people will vote for McCane?

[Graywolf48]

No, Marlyn, according to my reasoning, if the Democrats choose either of these two nominees, their disgruntled supporters will vote McCain. The reason for that is the Democrats have become so fractured and the vitriol is so rancid between Clinton/Obama supporters that Hillary supporters say will never vote for Obama and Obama supporters say they will never support Clinton. It seems that the Democrats have been Balkanized by these two candidates. Have you been paying attention to the Democratic nominating process as it revolves around Obama/Clinton? These two candidates despise each other as do their respective supporters. Can the losing nominee convince their supporters to put the primary campaign nastiness behind them and reunite the party? It seems doubtful. Will there be enough time if such a reunification is possible?

[Wilbur]

Simply because eight in 10 people polled say the country is going in the wrong direction, that does NOT mean that 80% of the people of this country want the Dems in charge. A good part of those "80-percenters" are right-wingers who think the country isn't conservative enough. Any liberal or progressive who gets sanguine when reading those numbers had better get their heads out of their butts.

Wilbur

[Graywolf48]

I wonder how these numbers correspond to GW's job approval numbers? Bush's approval rating is at 31%. But among Republicans, his job approval rating is above 71%, perhaps a large part of that 29% difference among Republicans are dissatisfied extreme right wingers? Among independents Bush has a 24% approval and among Democrats only 9% approve of his performance. Is there a correlation between these approval ratings and the country's direction numbers? Those who think Bush is doing a good job must account for that 20%, whereas those who disapprove of his performance for one reason or another make up the 80%. So I'm not so sure a "good part" of those 80 per centers are unhappy right wingers.

[Wilbur]

If 80% of the country feels we're on the wrong track, you'd expect McCain's poll numbers to be abysmally low, since his agenda is, for the most part, the same as Chimpie's. But he runs nearly even vs. either HRC or BHO. I'll stick to my statements above - that 80% number of Americans who feel we're on the wrong track includes a sizeable number of right-wingers who would take us even further to the right if they could.

Wilbur

[HippieChick]

"A good part of those "80-percenters" are right-wingers who think the country isn't conservative enough."

Frightening, but true, Wilbur. These are the people who just don't get what this country is about. They would take my "freedom" from me without blinking an eye. Hilter was elected, we must remind ourselves. Many people fall victim to well-crafted propaganda; many people just want to believe they have all the power.

[1differentdrummer]

Eight years? There was an R majority in congress when Clinton was in the WH. Here's the fruit of the Gingrich years. But remember, w promised a change in the way DC worked and boy howdy, was he right.

[BOBONDE]

THANKS TO THE REPUBS, THE ECONOMY IS IN A TAILSPIN; FOOD AND FUEL PRICES ARE GOING THROUGH THE ROOF; WE ARE BOGGED DOWN IN A HOPELESS WAR, THE BUDGET SUPRLUS THAT BUSH INHEARITED IS WAY WAY WAY IN THE RED, TIME FOR CHANGE!!

[sher2x4]

The funny thing about all this is that
we've been going through this s**t for
thousands of years.
We relegate the quality of our lives to
greedy, power hungry, asocial monsters
and then cry fowl when they
do what they do best.

[noneIn2008]

Also amazing, they beat you and then you ask for more?

[american2008]

How pathetic is it that even after 2 failed "Wars" going on by Bushie,an economy in the toilet and many of our rights taken away the past 8 years, almost half of Americans would still vote for a Republicon president. If this isn't proof that almost half of the people here are certified morons, I don't know what is!

[HBeachbum]

The first step to recovery is admitting your problem. Yes, the 50% of the poulation that are liberals are morons.

[chinacatsunflower]

please explain what the republicans have done for this country except screw us.

[eej]

It's a combination of destroying education and buying the media.

[donttasemebro]

It took a Bush to get the country singing the blues 17 years ago, and it took another Bush to top that achievement. The mind boggles.