Voters in 2012 are more negative than positive about the country’s direction, though not by much, according to NBC News exit poll data.
Forty-six percent said the country is on the right track, while 52 said it’s going in the wrong direction, msnbc’s Tamron Hall reported on NBC Nightly News.
That might not sound great. But it’s much improved from just a few months ago, when the right-track-wrong-track numbers were 30 and 63 respectively.
And it’s way better than in 2008, two months after the financial crisis, when the split was a woeful 20-75.
In recent months, there’s been evidence that Americans have begun to feel a bit better about the economy. But whether that will be enough to carry President Obama to victory remains to be seen.
The exits also showed that fully 60% of voters said the most important issue facing the country is the economy, compared to 17% for health care, 15% for the deficit, and 4% for foreign policy. Of those who said the economy, 40% said unemployment.
Zachary Roth