According to the NY Times. Let’s see: Wall Street wobbling; mortgages in chaos; a dollar that’s going the way of the mid-90s ruble; gas over $3 a gallon; a Middle East war that has dragged on for five years already with no end in sight; President Bush is still in office, while Congress is led by the likes of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi … yep, “wrong track” sounds about right.

“Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject,” runs the lede. The Times continues:

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

The pessimistic trend isn’t surprising. But 81 percent? You don’t see numbers like that in too many polls.