Poll: Just 24 percent say US is heading in the right direction

Just under 1 in 4 Americans think the country is headed in the right direction, according to a poll released Friday.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey reports that just 24 percent U.S. adults are optimistic about the country’s future, a 10-point decrease since the same poll in June.

One of the biggest drops in the poll was among Republicans. In June, 60 percent of Republicans said they approved of the direction the country is headed in, but that number is just 44 percent now.

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President Trump faces dismal job approval ratings in the survey. Sixty-seven percent of Americans, including about one-third of GOP voters, disapprove of the job Trump has done so far in the White House.

On specific issues, Trump fares even worse. Nearly 70 percent say Trump is not a “level-headed” leader, while more than 60 percent disapprove of his handling of race relations, foreign policy, and immigration.

When it comes to whether the president understands the issues facing everyday Americans, Trump does poorly as well. Ninety-two percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents said Trump understands their problems “not very or not at all.”

Just 42 percent of Republicans said Trump understands their issues “very well,” while another 32 percent says he understands them “moderately well.”

The Associated Press-NORC Center poll contacted 1,150 adults online or by phone and carries a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.