Americans Continue to Think Nation is Going the Wrong Way

A poll from Rasmussen Reports finds that less than a third -- 31 percent -- of likely voters in November believe the nation is headed on the right track. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed think the nation is headed in the wrong direction. Pretty abysmal to be sure, but the percentage of Americans thinking the country was on the right path in Rasmussen polls from the latter half of 2011 was in the teens. The poll of 3,500 likely voters was taken from Feb.13-19 and had a margin of error of +/- 2 percent.

There have been exceptions, of course -- as anyone who has ever read the jeremiads of Fisher Ames or the writings of the Southern Agrarians can attest -- but Americans generally have been a fairly optimistic people. Think of the line that the creepy animotronics at Carousel of Progress sing at Disney World -- its a great big beautiful tomorrow.Something has drastically changed -- and I suspect it goes beyond mere politics. Clint Eastwood can talk about halftime all he wants for an Italian car company located in Michigan, but Americans are reluctant to buy that message.