81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track

By DAVID LEONHARDT and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: April 4, 2008

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.

In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

翻译:
81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track
民意调查显示81%的美国人认为美国走错了路

By DAVID LEONHARDT and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: April 4, 2008

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.
最近的一次民意调查结果显示，自二十世纪九十年代初纽约时报/哥伦比亚过广播公司新闻开始对该问题进行民意调查以来，美国人对其本国发展方向的不满超过了以往任何时候。

In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.
在民意调查中有81%的被调查者表示，他们认为“美国在错误的道路上下滑，情况已经相当严重，” 持此观点的人去年为69%，而2002年初仅有35%。

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.
尽管自伊拉克战争初期以来美国民众的情绪一直很低落，但最近几个月由于经济逐步衰退公众的情绪进一步恶化。现在几乎全美一直认为美国面临重大问题。

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.
几乎所有统计小组和政治团体的绝大多数——民主党人和共和党人， 男人和女人， 城市居民和乡村居民，大学生和高中生都承认美国在沿着错误方向前进。78%的被调查者称，美国的现状比五年前更糟；仅有4% 的人认为好。