War-weary U.S. is down in the dumps

Things are gloomy south of the border. Men and women, whites and minorities — all are feeling a war-weary pessimism about the United States seldom shared by so many people.

Only 25 per cent of U.S. residents surveyed say things in their country are going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. That is about the lowest level of satisfaction detected since the survey started in December 2003.

Rarely have longer-running polls found such a rate since the even gloomier days of 1992 ahead of the first president Bush's re-election loss to Democrat Bill Clinton.

The current glumness is widely blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq and with President George W. Bush. It is striking for how widespread the mood is among different groups of people.