Just 11 percent of Americans satisfied with direction of US: Gallup

Just 11 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

The survey, taken just before President Biden’s inauguration, shows a decrease in satisfaction from December, when it stood at 16 percent, according to the pollster. Gallup recorded slightly higher satisfaction levels of 13 percent and 14 percent last summer and early fall.

The 11 percent mark remains above the 7 percent Gallup recorded in 2008, the lowest satisfaction it has ever polled.

Satisfaction was considerably higher this time last year before the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with Gallup recording satisfaction of more than 40 percent in January, February and March of 2020. It remained at 20 percent or lower beginning in May, except for a spike to 28 percent in October and 21 percent in November.

Although the survey was taken before Biden’s inauguration, it was taken almost entirely in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Historically, during presidential transitions that involve the incumbent party leaving power, lower satisfaction among members of that party has also fallen, dragging down the overall satisfaction rating. Republican satisfaction with the direction of the country stood at 14 percent in the poll, while Democratic satisfaction was even lower, at 5 percent.

Polling in January 2017, the month then-President Trump took office, showed Republican satisfaction with the country at 22 percent, but it had risen to 55 percent by the next month. Similarly, just 9 percent of Democrats were satisfied ahead of former President Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, but the figure had risen to 22 percent by February and 50 percent by May.

Gallup pollsters surveyed 1,023 adults from Jan. 4 to 15. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.