A whopping 78% of US adults believe the country is trending in the wrong direction, according to a poll that was taken in the days after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was voted out of his post by members of his own party.
Only a mere 21% felt that the US is heading in the right direction, according the Associated Press-NORC Research Center. The finding marks a downturn from about a month prior when the group found that 75% of Americans felt the country was heading in the wrong direction, compared to 25% who believed it was going in the right direction.
Additionally, the poll’s finding marks the most negative sentiment about the country’s direction since May, around the time of the debt ceiling crisis.
Overall, President Biden was pegged with a 38% net job approval rating, and a 61% net disapproval rating.
A net 54% of respondents viewed Biden unfavorably, while 42% viewed him favorably.
Meanwhile, his leading 2024 GOP rival, former President Donald Trump scored a 58% net unfavorable rating compared to 37% favorable.
Nationally, Trump and Biden are running neck and neck, with the 77-year-old former president having a 0.8 percentage point edge in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
Biden, 80, saw his campaign buoyed by what it claims was a stronger quarter three fundraising haul than Trump or any of the top 2024 Republican aspirants.
His campaign raked in $71.3 million from July to September when combined with a joint fund-raising committee and the Democratic National Committee.
The AP-NORC poll also gauged widespread political dissatisfaction across the board.
Only 3% of respondents said they had a great deal of confidence in Congress, while 42% had some confidence, and 53% hardly had any confidence at all.
When asked about Congress’ decision to depose McCarthy from the speakership on Oct. 3, a net 25% approved, 25% disapproved, and 48% neither approved or disapproved.
McCarthy’s ouster has thrust Congress into paralysis, with House Republicans struggling for nearly two weeks to name a replacement.
At the moment, the lower chamber is being overseen by Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC), whose powers are very limited.
The poll was taken from Oct. 5 to 9 and sampled 1,163 adults with a plus or minus 3.9 percentage point margin of error.