Latest Gallup Survey Reveals Satisfaction with US Direction at 12-Year-High
Thirty-eight percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the US today, the research-based Gallup company reported Monday.
Satisfaction with the nation is now back to the historical average of 37% for this trend, according to the latest survey which was first measured in 1979, but is far below the majority levels reached in the economic boom times of the mid-1980s and late 1990s.
The rise in satisfaction over the past two months comes after positive economic news – including the shrinking of the unemployment rate and the continuing economic expansion that is now the second longest on record.
US satisfaction has averaged 38% in May and June after averaging 29% in March and April. The nine-percentage-point bump between the two periods is entirely owing to increased satisfaction among Republicans and independents, pushing Republicans' satisfaction to 68% and independents' to 36%, Gallup reported.
Meanwhile, Democrats' satisfaction is unchanged at 13%.
Though the vast majority of Americans have expressed pride in their country in polls stretching back more than 30 years, their pride has not meant they were satisfied with the way things were going, according to Gallup.
Now, at the midpoint of 2018, as the United States continues to enjoy a nine-year-long economic expansion, the number of Americans finding satisfaction in the country's direction is on the rise.
This reflects more than a growing comfort with Donald Trump as president; growth in satisfaction has outstripped growth in Trump's approval rating, according to Gallup.
And it is more than economic good news – the percentage of Americans satisfied has risen more over the past two months than the percentage who think the economy is in good shape or the percentage who think it's a good time to find a quality job.
Survey Methods
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted June 1-13, 2018, with a random sample of 1,520 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
Click to view the survey methodology, complete question responses, and trends.
Gallup, Inc. is an American research-based, global performance-management consulting company. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide.
