An overwhelming majority of Americans think the US is headed in wrong direction, amid a recent shutdown that appears to have diminished Americans’ confidence in their political system, according to a new poll.
According to a Rasmussen Reports survey published Thursday, 80 percent of likely voters believe the US is heading in the wrong direction, an increase of four percentage points from the prior week.
Just 13 percent of respondents believe the US is heading in the right direction, the lowest mark the poll has registered since October 2008, when the US was in the throes of a devastating financial crisis.
Another recent poll, conducted by Pew Research and released this week, showed that 81 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country as opposed to only 14 percent who were satisfied.
The polls come as the federal government was partially closed for 16 days and reopened on Thursday after Congress reached a last-minute deal on Wednesday night to end the shutdown and raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling.
According to a Standard & Poor’s analysis, the government shutdown cost the nation’s economy at least $24 billion.
An online petition posted this week on the progressive MoveOn.org calls for arrest and trial of Republican leaders for their role in the government shutdown.
The petition calls on the Department of Justice to “arrest Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Speaker of the House John Boehner and other decision-making House Republican leaders for the crime of seditious conspiracy against the United States of America.”
AHT/HJ
