GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- After showing slight improvement in recent months, Americans' overall level of satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States has fallen back to the levels it was in the spring -- below 30%. The war in Iraq continues to be named most often by Americans as the most important problem facing the nation. Other problems frequently mentioned by the public include fuel or oil prices, terrorism, dissatisfaction with government and politicians, the general state of the economy, and immigration. Views that fuel prices are the nation's top problem have increased slightly this month, but this sentiment has been higher earlier in the year.
Mood of the Nation
The August 7-10, 2006 Gallup Poll finds that 28% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country right now, while the majority of Americans, 69%, say they are dissatisfied. At the beginning of the year, 36% of Americans expressed satisfaction with the state of the nation. Satisfaction remained at this level in February before it started to decline, to 29% in March, then to 27% in April, and finally to 25% in May amid rising gas prices. Americans' satisfaction began to improve in June as gas prices stabilized, climbing as high as 33% last month before falling again this month.
Satisfaction with the state of the nation continues to show significant polarization by party. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say they are satisfied with the way things are going, compared with 22% of independents, and just 8% of Democrats.
From a historical perspective, the current 32% satisfaction reading is still quite low. Since 1979, the average percentage of Americans saying they are satisfied has been 43%. The high point in satisfaction came in February 1999, when 71% of Americans say they were satisfied. One of Gallup's first surveys on this measure, conducted July 1979, found satisfaction at 12%, the lowest ever measured, although not much below the 14% measured in June 1992.
Most Important Problem
The current poll also included Gallup's monthly update of the long standing trend question that asks Americans to identify "the most important problem facing this country today."
The latest results show that 26% of Americans say the war in Iraq is the top problem facing the country right now. This is followed by fuel or oil prices (15%), terrorism (10%), government dissatisfaction (8%), the general state of the economy (8%), and immigration (6%). Three percent of Americans say the war in the Middle East is the top problem facing the country right now.
|
Most Important Problem in Country |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
% |
|
|
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
35 |
|
Fuel/oil prices |
15 |
|
Economy in general |
8 |
|
Unemployment/jobs |
4 |
|
Federal budget deficit/federal debt |
3 |
|
Taxes |
3 |
|
High cost of living/inflation |
3 |
|
Wage issues |
2 |
|
Gap between rich and poor |
1 |
|
Lack of money |
1 |
|
Foreign trade/trade deficit |
1 |
|
Corporate corruption |
* |
|
|
|
|
NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
81 |
|
Situation in Iraq/war |
26 |
|
Terrorism |
10 |
|
Dissatisfaction with government/Congress/ |
9 |
|
Immigration/illegal aliens |
8 |
|
Poor healthcare/hospitals; high cost of healthcare |
6 |
|
Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; |
5 |
|
Education/poor education/access to education |
4 |
|
Foreign aid/focus overseas |
4 |
|
Lack of energy sources; the energy crisis |
4 |
|
Poverty/hunger/homelessness |
3 |
|
War in the Middle East |
3 |
|
National security |
2 |
|
Environment/pollution |
2 |
|
International issues/problems |
2 |
|
Crime/violence |
2 |
|
Lack of respect for each other |
1 |
|
Social Security |
1 |
|
Unifying the country |
1 |
|
Abortion |
1 |
|
Children's behavior/way they are raised |
1 |
|
Drugs |
1 |
|
The media |
1 |
|
Medicare |
1 |
|
Welfare |
1 |
|
Judicial system/courts/laws |
* |
|
Situation in North Korea |
* |
|
Natural disaster relief effort and funding |
* |
|
Race relations/racism |
* |
|
Abuse of power |
* |
|
Care for the elderly |
* |
|
Lack of military defense |
* |
|
Homosexuality/gay rights issues |
* |
|
Overpopulation |
* |
|
Election year/presidential choices/ |
-- |
|
Child abuse |
-- |
|
Guns/gun control |
-- |
|
|
|
|
Other non-economic |
3 |
|
|
|
|
No opinion |
2 |
|
|
|
|
* Less than 0.5% |
|
|
Percentages add to more than 100% due to multiple responses. |
|
There has been a slight up-tick this month in the percentage of Americans mentioning fuel prices as the most important problem. Currently, 15% of Americans say fuel prices are the top problem. This is up from 11% in June and 9% in July. At its highpoint this year -- in May -- 22% of Americans said fuel prices were the top problem facing the country; at its low point, in January and again in March, 5% mentioned this. Clearly, concern about gas prices has been related to national satisfaction levels this year, as it typically has been in the past.
Ten percent mention terrorism in the current poll, up three points since July. During the poll's field period, British officials foiled an attempted plot to blow up airplanes flying between Great Britain and the United States using liquid explosives. The number of mentions for terrorism as the most important problem spiked after this news and rivaled the war in Iraq as the top problem. But because the vast majority of interviews were conducted before this news was publicized, terrorism was third on the list.
There has been essentially no change in Americans' perceptions that Iraq is the most important problem facing the country, with roughly one in four Americans mentioning it as the top problem since April. Fewer Americans said Iraq was the top problem at the start of the year.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted August 7-10, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.