Poll: 18% of Americans satisfied with state of nation, gov’t named top problem

A new Gallup poll found just 18% of Americans are satisfied with the state of nation. That’s about half of the historical average for American satisfaction.

While low, May’s satisfaction was actually slightly up from the 16% satisfaction reported in April. It was also higher than the 13% satisfaction reported in June and July of 2022, when inflation had a stronger grip on the U.S. economy.

Going back to the beginning of the decade, satisfaction dipped as low as 11% on Jan. 4, 2021, two days before the Capitol riots. It was a steep drop from the 45% satisfaction reported on Feb. 3, 2020, just a month before the pandemic began.

“Gallup has measured national satisfaction since 1979. The lowest reading was 7% in October 2008 during the height of the financial crisis,” Gallup said in a news article on the poll. “The high point was 71% in February 1999 during the dot-com boom and after the Senate acquitted President Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial.”

When asked what the most important problem facing the nation today, the government itself was the top answer. The economy and immigration tied for the second most common answer.

“Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy also remains depressed, with Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index essentially unchanged at -43 in May after dropping in April,” Gallup said. “However, like the national satisfaction measure, it is not as low as last summer, when it fell to -58 in June 2022, the lowest Gallup had recorded since the Great Recession.”

Inflation, crime, guns and the federal deficit also made the list of popular responses from Americans taking the state of the nation satisfaction poll.

“The May poll was conducted as the federal government faced an early June deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit or face possible U.S. default on its loans and as prices remained elevated though increasing at a slower rate than last year,” Gallup said. “Also in May, pandemic-era restrictions on immigration ended and the nation continued to suffer a string of mass shootings.”