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Pliny's Point on May 31, 2017
May 31, 2017: 35 percent think the U.S. is moving in the right direction, according to an average of recent polls. This is up one point from earlier this week, with new polling data from Rasmussen Reports and Politico/Morning Consult. Individual poll results range from 25 to 43 percent who say the country is on the right track. Together, the polls show 57 percent think the country is on the wrong track.
| Source | Date range | Sample size | % who think the U.S. is headed in the right direction | Margin of error (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Politico/Morning Consult[1] | 5/25 - 5/30 | 1,991 registered voters | 41% | 2% |
| Rasmussen Reports[2] | 5/21 - 5/25 | 2,500 likely voters | 37% | 2% |
| Economist/YouGov[3] | 5/20 - 5/23 | 1,276 registered voters | 30% | 3.2% |
| Reuters/Ipsos[4] | 5/19 - 5/23 | 2,000 adults | 25% | 2.6% |
| IBD/TIPP[5] | 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account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information.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:
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Footnotes
- ↑ Politico/Morning Consult, "National Tracking Poll," May 25-30, 2017
- ↑ Rasmussen Reports, "Right Direction or Wrong Track," May 29, 2017
- ↑ YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll," May 20 - May 23, 2017
- ↑ Ipsos, "Ipsos Poll Conducted for Reuters: Core Political Data," May 10, 2017
- ↑ Investor's Business Daily, "Trump's Approval Climbs As His Tax Cut Plan Wins Strong Support — IBD/TIPP Poll," May 8, 2017
