Gallup: Americans' satisfaction up a bit

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PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Slightly more than a quarter of Americans say they're satisfied with the way things are going in the United States today, up slightly from January, Gallup said.

While 27 percent of Americans said they were satisfied, 72 percent said they were dissatisfied, the latest results of Gallup's annual World Affairs survey released Monday indicated.

The average level of satisfaction so far in 2013 matches the 26 percent average for all of 2012, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

The current level of satisfaction is significantly higher than the 18 percent recorded at the start of Obama's first term in February 2009. Since then, satisfaction has never exceeded 37 percent and fell 11 percent in mid-2011, Gallup said.

Forty-seven percent of Democrats said they are satisfied with the country's direction, up from 39 percent in January, results indicated.

Satisfaction among Republicans has been fairly flat over the past year and currently is at 9 percent.

The overall satisfaction rate has been as high as 71 percent in February 1999 and as low as 7 percent in October 2008.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,015 adults conducted Feb. 7-10. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.