Tracking Public Opinion on the State of U.S. Affairs
Morning Consult surveys more than 3,000 U.S. adults daily on their views regarding the current state and trajectory of the country, providing an unparalleled gauge of public sentiment.
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Key Takeaways
Americans' optimism about the country's direction remains elevated in comparison with most of Joe Biden's presidency, but relatively low for President Donald Trump's second term in office. Just 42% of U.S. adults say the country is headed in the right direction, down from 51% in early June — the current high for optimism during Trump's second term in office.
Partisanship, as always, remains the key dividing line in views on America's trajectory: While 74% of Republicans say the country is headed in the right direction, just 19% of Democrats agree. Meanwhile, 31% of independents see the country headed in the right direction.
The sizable gender gap in optimism about the country is a key feature of the second Trump presidency: 51% of men see the country is headed in the right direction, compared with only 34% of women.
A wealth gap in optimism is another key trend we've observed in 2025, with views on the country's trajectory diverging among Americans from higher- and lower-earning households. At one point in July, respondents from households with a minimum annual income of $100,000 were 28 percentage points more likely than those from households earning less than $50,000 to say the country is headed in the right direction — the largest such gap we've recorded since October 2016.
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Perceptions of the State of Affairs in America: A Demographic Breakdown
Source of This Data
Methodology
Every day, Morning Consult surveys a representative sample of roughly 5,000 U.S. adults on average and asks the question, “Now, generally speaking, would you say that things in the country are going in the right direction, or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?” Results are weighted to account for a range of demographic characteristics including age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment and region and have a margin of error of up to +/-4 percentage points.
Reporting dates reflect surveys conducted the prior day. (For example, data points labeled "Jan 20 2025" reflect responses gathered Jan. 19, 2025.
About Morning Consult
Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com.
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Cameron Easley is Morning Consult’s head of U.S. Political Analysis. He has led Morning Consult's coverage of U.S. politics and elections since 2016, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, FiveThirtyEight and on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Cameron joined Morning Consult from Roll Call, where he was managing editor. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow him on Twitter @cameron_easley. Interested in connecting with Cameron to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
