The country isn't happy under Bush (according to Gallup, Pew, Assoc Press) [View All]

I was about to say "Numbers don't lie" but of course numbers really do lie all the time. Nonetheless, polls measuring overall satisfaction and "wrong/right track" perceptions are looking pretty bad. I'm not just comparing them to where we were and how we were feeling during the Clinton boom years. We're feeling worse overall compared to how we were since the 9/11 attacks, since the worst of the Bush recession, and since just a few months ago.

According to the irreplaceable Polling Report.com,
Pew asks "Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or are they seriously off on the wrong track?"
In March '03, only 36% say "right track" vs. 55% saying "wrong track". That's down from the 55% "right" vs 33% "wrong-trackers" last April. Their previous all time low for "right direction" was in January '03 when 39% said things suck.


NBC/WSJ found the wrong track number at 49%, up from 43% in January.

Associated Press has "wrong track" at 60% compared to 52% in February and 46% in January. That's their highest wrong track number in all the Bush years and this was before the Clarke revelations came out.

The Gallup poll says 60% of the country is dissatisfied compared to 39% of the country being satisfied. The chart below of Gallup's tracking of this figure shows we've always been a bit uneasy since Bush has been in office. He frequently gets a bounce from the occasional spectacular news--like the troops getting Saddam or everyone waking up after 9/11 to just how damn lucky we are to live in this country. But overall, he's making the country a suckier place to be.



The moral to this story? Vote Kerry and make America suck less.