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One in four Americans think the country is headed in the right direction (1 in 8 Republicans), and … somehow that’s an increase

Here’s some odd news: 23 percent — i.e. 1 in 4 — of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction, per Gallup. The weird thing? That’s an increase — the last time Gallup did this poll, it was about 16 percent. Look at it by political affiliation:

Parties

Democrats are the most hopeful — about 40 percent believe America’s on track — whereas Republicans are the least hopeful (12 percent think this). Independents are at about 19 percent. Even more astounding on the GOP-linked side? Last month it was five percent, meaning that 1 in 20 Republicans felt the country was on the right track. Politically partisan shifts, indeed.

The overall stats are a bit depressing — break it down to the core of what this is saying and essentially, no political party has a majority of its people thinking America is headed in the right direction — and many have claimed our future is bleaker than our past, but any trend lines are not likely to drastically shift within 2014. It might help if we started to get a handle on the inequality issue, though.

Ted Bauer