Americans' Take on the U.S. Is Improved, but Still Mixed

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Donald Trump's upbeat view of the nation's economy, military strength, economic opportunity and overall quality of life will likely resonate with Americans when he delivers his State of the Union address to Congress next week. Most Americans say they are satisfied with each of these aspects of the country as 2020 begins. The majority also feel positively about the positions of women and gays in society.

	Satisfied	Dissatisfied	Net satisfied
	%	%	pct. pts.
The overall quality of life	84	16	68
The nation's military strength and preparedness	81	13	68
The opportunity for a person to get ahead by working hard	72	27	45
The nation's security from terrorism	68	27	41
The state of the nation's economy	68	29	39
The position of women in the nation	63	36	27
The influence of organized religion	59	38	21
The acceptance of gays and lesbians in the nation	56	40	16
Gallup, Jan. 2-15, 2020

At the same time, the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with a host of issues that Trump would do well to address. These include a variety of domestic issues such as public education, healthcare, abortion policies and guns -- as well as the economic issues of poverty and the distribution of income and wealth.

	Satisfied	Dissatisfied	Net satisfied
	%	%	pct. pts.
The way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.	43	56	-13
The nation's laws or policies on guns	42	55	-13
Our system of government and how well it works	43	57	-14
The size and influence of major corporations	41	58	-17
The state of race relations	36	58	-22
The level of immigration into the country today	35	57	-22
The amount Americans pay in federal taxes	37	60	-23
The availability of affordable healthcare	37	60	-23
The size and power of the federal government	38	62	-24
The nation's policies regarding the abortion issue	32	58	-26
The quality of public education in the nation	35	63	-28
The nation's campaign finance laws	23	53	-30
The moral and ethical climate	32	68	-36
The nation's efforts to deal with poverty and homelessness	22	75	-53
Gallup, Jan. 2-15, 2020

Americans are more evenly split in their assessments of eight other aspects of the country, with fewer than 10 points separating the percentages satisfied and dissatisfied. These include medical care, energy policies, the environment, and government regulation of business, among other issues.

	Satisfied	Dissatisfied	Net satisfied
	%	%	pct. pts.
The quality of medical care in the nation	52	46	+6
The nation's energy policies	44	41	+3
The position of blacks and other racial minorities in the nation	46	46	0
The nation's policies to reduce or control crime	47	49	-2
The quality of the environment in the nation	46	50	-4
Government regulation of businesses and industries	41	45	-4
The Social Security and Medicare systems	43	51	-8
The role the U.S. plays in world affairs	43	51	-8
Gallup, Jan. 2-15, 2020

These findings are from Gallup's annual Mood of the Nation survey, conducted Jan. 2-15. Gallup has measured Americans' satisfaction with most of these issues each year since 2001, except from 2009 to 2011, when a more limited number of issues were rated or the question was not asked.

Changes Since Trump Took Office

As Trump enters his re-election year, Americans are more positive on eight key issues than they were just before he took office in January 2017.

• Gallup records double-digit increases in public satisfaction with the nation's economy, security from terrorism, military strength and the state of race relations.

• Satisfaction is also up by between six and nine points on crime, the position of blacks and other racial minorities, the distribution of income and wealth, and the opportunity for a person to get ahead through hard work.

Over the same period, Americans have grown slightly less satisfied on three issues: abortion (down 7 points), the level of immigration (-6) and the environment (-6).

	January 2017	January 2020	Change since 2017
	%	%	pct. pts.
Increased satisfaction
The state of the nation's economy	46	68	+22
The nation's security from terrorism	50	68	+18
The nation's military strength and preparedness	66	81	+15
The state of race relations	22	36	+14
The nation's policies to reduce or control crime	38	47	+9
The position of blacks and other racial minorities in the nation	37	46	+9
The way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.	35	43	+8
The opportunity for a person in this nation to get ahead by working hard	66	72	+6
Satisfaction steady
The overall quality of life	80	84	+4
The influence of organized religion	56	59	+3
The nation's energy policies	41	44	+3
Our system of government and how well it works	40	43	+3
Government regulation of businesses and industries	38	41	+3
The size and influence of major corporations	39	41	+2
The moral and ethical climate	31	32	+1
The quality of medical care in the nation	52	52	0
The nation's laws or policies on guns	42	42	0
The nation's efforts to deal with poverty and homelessness	23	22	-1
The role the U.S. plays in world affairs	45	43	-2
The size and power of the federal government	40	38	-2
The amount Americans pay in federal taxes	39	37	-2
The availability of affordable healthcare	39	37	-2
The quality of public education in the nation	37	35	-2
The acceptance of gays and lesbians in the nation	59	56	-3
The Social Security and Medicare systems	47	43	-4
Decreased satisfaction
The quality of the environment in the nation	52	46	-6
The level of immigration into the country today	41	35	-6
The nation's policies regarding the abortion issue	39	32	-7
Note: Gallup did not ask the questions on "The position of women in the nation" and "The nation's campaign finance laws" in 2017.
Gallup, Jan. 2-15, 2020

Long-Term Trend Is Up, but Still Much Room for Improvement

Americans' average satisfaction rating for the 27 issues Gallup has tracked consistently since 2001 is now 47%. This is up three points from a year ago and is the highest since the January 2005 poll.

Today's average satisfaction is roughly on par with the level of the early 2000s. Only in 2002 was the average for this metric substantially higher than it is today. The average 53% recorded that year reflected heightened satisfaction as Americans were in full "rally around the flag" mode shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

Today's average satisfaction rating reflects significant increases since 2001 in Americans' satisfaction with the nation's military strength (up 20 points) and the acceptance of gays and lesbians (+21), as well as with energy policy (+12), taxes (+11) and healthcare (+8).

One reason average satisfaction isn't higher now than in 2001 is that satisfaction has since declined sharply on matters related to the performance of the federal government: the system of government and how well it works (down 25 points); the role the U.S. plays in world affairs (-18); and the size and power of the federal government (-12). Satisfaction is also down compared with 2001 on abortion policy (-11), the environment (-10), poverty and homelessness (-8), and race relations (-8).

Additionally, Americans' satisfaction has been persistently low on several other issues, including the moral and ethical climate, campaign finance laws, public education, and immigration. (See link to full trends just above the Survey Methods section.)

Bottom Line

Americans' overall satisfaction with the country's direction is at its highest point since 2005. However, the 41% satisfied with the country today leaves 58% dissatisfied, and the detailed satisfaction measures reported here help reveal the source of that discontent.

While large majorities applaud the nation's economy and military strength, they remain critical of the federal government on several dimensions and see room for improvement in numerous areas related to the health and wellbeing of Americans.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.