Wrong Track Indicator Hits Another All-Time High
A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that 89 percent of Americans believe that country is on the wrong track, a new all-time high surpassing the 83 percent who said the same earlier this year. Just seven percent of Americans in the poll said they felt the country was headed in the right direction, down from 14 percent in September. Solid majorities of Republicans, Democrats and Independents agreed that the nation is on the wrong track.
The right direction/wrong track number is a key indicator of the mood of the country and just three weeks from Election Day is further evidence of the economic crisis that has rattled the presidential race. The poll was conducted Friday through Monday, mostly following last week's historic drop in the stock market. Previous polls have shown voters are more confident in Barack Obama's ability to improve the economy and both candidates have recently unveiled new proposals aimed at easing concerns.
The full CBS News/New York Times poll will be released at 6:30 ET tonight. Tune into the CBS Evening news and check back here at CBSNews.com for full results.
The poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,070 adults nationwide, including 972 registered voters, interviewed by telephone October 10-13, 2008. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample and the sample of registered voters could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.