Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Pliny's Point on May 26, 2017
May 26, 2017: An average of recent polls shows 34 percent think the country is moving in the right direction (down from 36 percent last Friday), while 59 percent think it is on the wrong track. The most recent direction of country polls from Politico/Morning Consult, The Economist/YouGov, and Reuters/Ipsos showed a slightly lower average, with less than a third who think the country is going in the right direction.[1]
| Source | Date range | Sample size | % who think the U.S. is headed in the right direction | Margin of error (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economist/YouGov[2] | 5/20 - 5/23 | 1,276 registered voters | 30% | 3.2% |
| Reuters/Ipsos[3] | 5/19 - 5/23 | 2,000 adults | 25% | 2.6% |
| Politico/Morning Consult[4] | 5/18 - 5/22 | 1,938 registered voters | 38% | 2% |
| Rasmussen Reports[5] | 5/14 - 5/18 | 2,500 likely voters | 34% | 2% |
| IBD/TIPP[6] | 4/28 - 5/4 | 904 adults | 43% | 3.3% |
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account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information.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:
Stay in the know:
- The Weekly Brew
- The Daily Brew
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition, 2016-2017
- Policy issues under the Trump administration, 2017-2021
- 115th United States Congress
- Special elections to the 115th United States Congress (2017-2018)
Footnotes
- ↑ Real Clear Politics, "Direction of Country," accessed May 26, 2017
- ↑ YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll," May 20 - May 23, 2017
- ↑ Ipsos, "Ipsos Poll Conducted for Reuters: Core Political Data," May 10, 2017
- ↑ Politico/Morning Consult, "National Tracking Poll," May 18-22, 2017
- ↑ Rasmussen Reports, "Right Direction or Wrong Track," May 22, 2017
- ↑ Investor's Business Daily, "Trump's Approval Climbs As His Tax Cut Plan Wins Strong Support — IBD/TIPP Poll," May 8, 2017
