Americans want new leaders: Poll

The vast majority of Americans doubt the US government will address the important problems facing the country and think the nation is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new poll.

The Associated Press-GfK poll released Thursday shows that nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they disapprove of how Congress is handling its job, and 6 in 10 disapprove of the president. More than half of Americans, 54 percent, disapprove of both.

Only 28 percent of Americans think the nation is heading in the right direction, the lowest level in August of an election year since 2008, the AP-GfK poll shows.

The poll found that neither major political party is trusted much to manage the US government. Just 27 percent of Americans have faith in Republicans and 24 percent in Democrats to run the federal government, while 31 percent say they trust neither party.

Fewer people have confidence in the US government’s ability to make progress on the major issues facing the country in 2014 than at the start of the year, with 74 percent saying they have little or no confidence.

Overall, few Americans express faith in those currently being in Congress, the poll found. Just 36 percent say they’d like to see their own member of Congress re-elected. 62 percent say they want someone else to win this November.

The decline in optimism about the country’s path in the new poll seems to be the result of perceived congressional inaction, which led to the threat of a government shutdown in 2011 and a partial one in 2013.