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.
Key Takeaways
Roughly 2 in 5 Americans (42%) say the country is headed in the right direction, down from 49% in mid-March — the current high for optimism during Donald Trump's second presidency.
Partisanship, as always, remains the key dividing line in views on America's trajectory, but recent trends suggest we may have already passed a high-water mark among supporters of the party in power: 75% of Republicans say the country is headed in the right direction, down from a five-year high of 79% earlier in March.
Meanwhile, Democratic optimism about the country's direction is at 20%, the lowest since the end of President Donald Trump's first term in office in January 2021.
Perceptions about America's trajectory have also worsened among independents: 32% of these U.S. adults say the country is on the right track, down from 39% earlier in March.
Larger shares of men than women continue to express optimism about the direction of the country (49% to 36%).
From a generational perspective, it's millennials who are the most optimistic about the country's trajectory: Nearly half of them say the U.S. is headed in the right direction, compared with roughly 2 in 5 Gen Zers, Gen Xers and baby boomers.
Data Downloads
Pro+ subscribers are able to download the datasets that underpin Morning Consult Pro's reports and analysis. Contact us to get access.
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 4,865 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.
Email [email protected] to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.
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].
