In general, thinking about the way things are going in the country, do you feel things are going in the right direction or that things are going in the wrong direction?

Notes

Figures from 1988-2000 are from Washington Post-ABC News polls. Polls from Oct. 1992 and from Sept. to Oct. 1996 were conducted among registered voters. The question asked at that time was "Do you think things in this country (are generally going in the right direction) or do you feel things (have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track)?"

Source: NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 1,173 U.S. adults conducted between Jan. 11 and Jan. 13. The margin of error for the overall sample is 3.5 percentage points.

Credit: Zach Levitt and Connie Hanzhang Jin/NPR