Poll: Most Americans See a Country that is Off-Course and Divided

If you want a picture of Americans feeling grim, a poll by Hart Research/Public Opinion Strategies conducted Oct. 30 - Nov. 4 has it for you: 71 percent are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country right now, 74 percent believe things have changed for the worse in the last 10 years, and 75 percent say people are too divided along political lines.

Fifty-five percent say that things have changed for the worse when it comes to the amount of division and lack of unity among Americans, 31 percent say things have improved, and 12 percent say there has been no change at all.

President Obama fares significantly better than congressional Republicans or Democrats on who is doing more to unite or divide the country. Fifty-five percent say Obama is uniting the country compared to 39 percent who say he is not with 6 percent undecided. Sixty-three percent say congressional Republicans are doing more to divide the country while 27 percent say they are doing more to unite the country, with 10 percent undecided. Fifty-two percent see congressional Democrats as dividers while 39 percent say they are uniters, with 9 percent undecided.

Those surveyed say by 65 percent to 35 percent see incidents like the tumultuous August town hall meetings on health care reform and the congressman who called Obama a liar during his address to Congress as part of a larger problem rather than isolated examples that have been blown out of proportion.

One less gloomy note is that, looking to the future, the public's outlook is less bleak than their assessment of affairs today. Looking ahead for the next 10 years, 50 percent of respondents are worried and pessimistic about the country, but 48 percent are hopeful and optimistic.

Fifty-three percent say things have changed for the better when it comes to prejudice, discrimination and intolerance while 32 percent say they have changed for the worse, with 14 percent seeing no change at all. Twenty percent cite the election of Obama as evidence that discrimination and prejudice have become less of a problem over the last 10 years.

Majorities of those surveyed believe gays and lesbians, Muslims, and immigrants not born in the U.S. experience problems with prejudice very or fairly often.

The poll also looked at whether there was a race factor in how people judge Obama as president. Fifty-seven percent said that race has a big or "some" effect on the way whites judge him compared to 41 percent who says it does not. Eighty-two percent say Obama's race has a big or some effect on blacks' assessments of him while 16 percent disagree. Fifty-eight percent says Obama's race has only a small or no effect on how he does his job while 40 percent says it has some or a big effect.

The top three issues of concern to Americans that emerged in the poll were the unemployment rate and loss of jobs (71 percent), the cost of health care and the number of people who lack insurance (60 percent) and individuals lacking a sense of personal responsibility in dealing with their own problems.