◼ Nearly 3 in 4 say the country is on the wrong track, and nearly half favor slashing government spending — a potentially dismal finding for President Obama, who will unveil a jobs plan this week. - Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times
With California unemployment mired at 12%, the electorate is clearly dissatisfied with the status quo. Nearly 3 in 4 voters say the country is on the wrong track, up sharply from the 55% who felt that way in November 2009.
"We're going to hell in a handbasket, what can I say," said Esther Morales, 68, a Republican poll respondent who lives in a retirement community in Indio. She scoffed at the term "retirement," however, pointing out that most of her neighbors still have to work odd jobs to make ends meet: "We're on the fast track to nowhere."
Dissatisfaction with the nation's trajectory topped 60% across every age range, party, region and level of education, and among women and men. But sharp disagreements remain over how the federal government should guide the country away from the recent recession. And neither side wants to give ground.
