Majority of Americans Say US is Going on 'Wrong Track'

A majority of Americans consider the United States is heading in the wrong direction, but are almost evenly split on President Barack Obama’s performance as president, a new CBS News/New York Times poll revealed on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Some 65 percent of respondents said the United States is going on the "wrong track," compared to 27 percent who say the country is going in the right direction.

When asked whether they "approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job as a president," 47 percent of respondents said they disapprove of his performance, while 46 percent said they approve.

Slightly more than half, or 52 percent, said they disapproved Obama’s handling foreign policy challenges, including the threat of terrorism.

The number of respondents disapproving of the president’s handling of another key issue, immigration, is even higher — 55 percent.

Moreover, 51 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Obama’s policy on guns.

On Friday evening, Obama will deliver his final State of the Union speech to address the top priorities during his last year in office. Obama is expected to defend executive actions he can take without cooperating with the US Congress, including the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, enacting tougher gun safety regulations and continuing normalizing relations with Cuba.