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Pliny's Point on February 16, 2017
February 16, 2017: Updated polling data reveals that an average of 36 percent of respondents think the U.S. is headed in the right direction. This is up two points due to the recent removal of three older polls from the average: one by the Wall Street Journal/NBC, one by The Washington Post/ABC, and one by CBS News. These polls were from mid-January, and were removed from Ballotpedia's polling index once they became 30 days old.
New data from The Economist/YouGov and Reuters/Ipsos was released on this topic yesterday, both of which said 31 percent thought the U.S. was on the right track. All of the polls included in today's average are listed below.
| Source | Date range | Sample size | % who think the U.S. is headed in the right direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economist/YouGov[1] | 2/12 - 2/14 | 1,100 registered voters | 31% |
| Reuters/Ipsos[2] | 2/10 - 2/14 | 1,774 adults | 31% |
| Rasmussen Reports[3] | 2/5 - 2/9 | 2,500 likely voters | 45% |
Methodology
For Ballotpedia's presidential approval, congressional approval, and direction of the country polling results, we take an average of the most recent polls on one or more of these topics conducted by 12 sources. Polls may be included in the average for up to 30 days, though this timeline may be adjusted to account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information. For a full description of our methodology and polling explanations, see: Ballotpedia's Polling Indexes.
What's in a name?
Pliny the Elder, a scholar from the Roman Empire, is most well known for writing the encyclopedic work Naturalis Historia, or “Natural History.” His extremely thorough work covered everything from botany to technology. Naturalis Historia, one of the largest Roman works that still exists from the first century A.D., became an example for future encyclopedic works through its formatting, references, and comprehensiveness.
Today, Ballotpedia works to preserve and expand knowledge, just like Pliny did hundreds of years ago. One of the features of Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, was a daily statistic called Pliny’s Point. Each day, between January 20, 2017 and September 1, 2017, readers learned where Americans stood on the direction of the country, or their approval of elected officials.
Click here for more Pliny's Point articles.
See also
Ballotpedia daily polling averages:
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Footnotes
