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Gallup: American Optimism Hits Lowest Point Since Carter Administration

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WASHINGTON – Fewer than four-in-10 Americans (39 percent) rate the US in a positive manner – the most negative feedback the country has produced since 1979.

A new Gallup poll finds that Americans are as negative about the country’s prospects as they have been in more than three decades. Americans are more upbeat in their predictions of where the U.S. will be in five years (48 percent positive), but this is the lowest rating since an August 1979 Gallup poll was conducted.

The negativity about the current state of the US has a politically partisan split – Republicans stated that the country’s best days have already passed and Democrats say the best days have not happened yet. Seventy-five percent of Democrats gave positive reviews of how the nation will be five years from now, but only 15 percent of Republicans were positive – a 60 percent partisan gap.

As a whole, fifty-five percent of Americans say the state of the nation five years ago was positive.

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Obama widens lead over Romney by six points in latest poll of registered voters

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President Barack Obama expanded his lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney to 6 percentage points in the White House race this month as voters became slightly more optimistic about the economy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.

Four months before the November 6 election, Obama leads Romney among registered voters 49 percent to 43 percent. In June, Obama held a slim 1-point lead over the former Massachusetts governor.

Obama’s improved standing was fueled in part by a slight rise in optimism about the future, with the number of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track dropping 5 percentage points to 58 percent.

Obama’s approval ratings ticked up 1 point to 48 percent and the number of Americans who disapprove of his job performance dropped 3 percentage points to 47 percent.

The shift follows a low point for Obama in June as economic worries deepened and Romney consolidated Republican support after clinching the party’s nomination to challenge him in November. Obama had led Romney by 7 points in May’s poll.

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