6 in 10 say US headed in wrong direction: Survey

Almost one in three Americans say the country is moving in the wrong direction, mostly due to President Trump’s actions since returning to the White House in January, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

Sixty-two percent think the nation is on the wrong track, including 92 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents. Only 24 percent of Republicans feel the same way.

Most Americans believe that the Trump administration’s cuts in federal funding for health care, universities, research institutions and new tariffs have all gone too far. PRRI found that independents’ views on these cuts, as well as the increase in funding going toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are more closely aligned Democratic respondents.

“Amid unprecedented actions, most Americans, including political independents, believe the Trump administration has gone too far,” PRRI president Robert P. Jones said in a statement. “A growing majority of Americans, including two-thirds of independents, now view the president as a dangerous dictator, but most Republicans continue to approve of Trump’s actions.” 

The overall number is lower than PRRI’s poll from September 2024, near the end of President Biden’s time in office. At the time, 70 percent of Americans thought the country was heading in the wrong direction, including 41 percent of Democrats and 94 percent of Republicans.

The majority of respondents also said the U.S. was headed in the wrong direction on the economy (65 percent), how the federal government functions (65 percent), dealing with undocumented immigrants (57 percent) and dealing with other countries (60 percent).

The survey also found that most Americans aren’t happy with either major party. Sixty percent of Americans view Democrats unfavorably, and 57 percent feel the same about Republicans.

This last piece of polling echoes recent polling from Gallup, which saw that 58 percent of Americans view Republicans unfavorably, while 61 percent hold an unfavorable view of Democrats.

The PRRI survey was conducted Sept. 12-15 and included 5,543 respondents living in all 50 states and an additional 412 recruited by Ipsos using opt-in survey panels to increase the sample sizes in smaller states. The margin of error is 1.79 percentage points.