With the fall elections around the corner, Americans’ pessimism about the country’s future shows up almost every day in surveys. In a late August CBS News poll, 62 percent of people said they’re dissatisfied with the country’s direction.
Congress has a 14-percent approval rating, and in response to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll in May, only 30 percent of respondents said they expected life for their children to be better than it is for them.
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But while negative trends tend to drive the news cycle, there are a number of long-term positive trends in Americans’ quality of life that should offer some glimmer in our gloom. From lower crime rates to technological and scientific advances, here are 21 metrics that are moving in the right direction.
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