17 percent satisfied with state of U.S.

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Slightly more U.S. residents -- 17 percent -- are expressing satisfaction with the state of the nation in the wake of the presidential election, pollsters say.

While that's higher than the 13 percent expressing satisfaction before the Nov. 4 elections, Americans still are giving overwhelming low marks to the direction of the country in the first few weeks of the Obama administration, a Gallup poll released Monday indicated.

Despite the uptick, satisfaction remains extraordinarily low relative to more prosperous times in the nation's recent history -- such as 1999 and 2002, when more than 60 percent of Americans polled said they were satisfied, Gallup said.

A partisan shift has been apparent in satisfaction levels since Barack Obama's election and inauguration as U.S. president, improving Democrats' and independents' perceptions of the country and having the opposite effect on Republicans. As a result, all three party groups report similar levels of satisfaction: 15 percent for Republicans, 16 percent for independents and 18 percent for Democrats.

The survey included interviews with 1,560 adults conducted Jan. 27-29, and carried a sampling error of 3 percentage points.