Only 25% Say US is on the "Right track"

Most blame the war in Iraq and president Bush.

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Pessimistic US

WASHINGTON — It's gloomy out there. Men and women, whites and minorities _ all are feeling a war-weary pessimism about the country seldom shared by so many people.

Only 25 percent of those surveyed say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. That is about the lowest level of satisfaction detected since the survey started in December 2003.

Rarely have longer-running polls found such a rate since the even gloomier days of 1992 ahead of the first President Bush's re-election loss to Democrat Bill Clinton.

The current glumness is widely blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq and with President Bush. It is striking for how widespread the mood is among different groups of people.

Women and minorities are less content than men and whites, which has been true for years. But all four groups are at or near record lows for the AP-Ipsos poll, and at unusually low levels for older surveys, as well.

Ann Bailey, 69, a retired school secretary in Broken Arrow, Okla., is a conservative who believes the country is on the wrong track. That sentiment should raise alarms for Republicans hoping to hold the White House and recapture Congress next year.

She cites a widespread lack of honesty plus immigration, gasoline prices and Iraq _ where a son and grandson are serving.

"As much as I hate it, I think they need to finish up what they're doing and get out of there," said Bailey. "I think we should step out and say, 'OK, now you solve your problem. We've done the best we can do.'"

Larry Ward, a moderate Republican from Pocomoke, Md., also senses the U.S. is heading the wrong way.

"We're still fighting a war we can't win," said Ward, 47, who operates a tree service. "That's a real big thing for me."

Three in 10 men and two in 10 women said this month they think the country is on the right track, down from nearly half of each who felt that way at the end of 2003.

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