While President Donald Trump’s approval rating is under scrutiny after dipping into the low 40’s, polling shows Americans are slowly beginning to say the United States is getting back on the right track. Voters also back President Trump on his commitment to border security and his effort to broker peace between Israel and Hamas.
A new Marquette University poll released Nov. 19 finds that while a wide majority of Americans — 66 percent — say the country is off on the wrong track, that number has dropped nine percentage points since November 2024, during the final weeks of the Biden Administration. Currently, 34 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction, up from just 25 percent in November 2024, and 66 percent believe the country is on the wrong track, down from 75 percent.
A large reason for the perception that the country is on the wrong track — although that perception is slowly improving — is the cost-of-living crisis. While inflation is down from its peak in 2022 under the Biden Administration, wages have not increased enough to match the elevated costs of everyday goods like groceries and rent, and Americans are feeling that discrepancy heavily.
