Washington Post: “V-Dem’s findings are bracing: The United States is undergoing ‘substantial autocratization’ — defined as the loss of democratic traits — that has accelerated precipitously under President Trump. This is particularly alarming in light of what the group’s historic data show: Only 1 in 5 democracies that start down this path are able to reverse the damage before succumbing to full-blown autocracy.”

A new AP-NORC poll finds 72% of the public, including 53% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats, say the country is headed in the wrong direction. 

“Most Americans disapprove of the President’s overall job performance and his handling of the coronavirus, health care, foreign policy, race relations, and policing.  The public is divided in their assessment of the president’s management of the economy and the military.”

A new 13-nation Pew Research survey finds America’s reputation “has declined further over the past year among many key allies and partners. In several countries, the share of the public with a favorable view of the U.S. is as low as it has been at any point since the Center began polling on this topic nearly two decades ago.”

Jim VandeHei: “All the biggest threats to America — most of them predicted, if not known well in advance — are unfolding before our eyes, in real-time, in unmistakable ways.”

“It’s as if God or the galaxy, or whatever you believe in, are screaming for politicians and the public to pop our bubbles and pay attention — believe our eyes.”

“Every day brings new stories of other nations manipulating social media — and Americans refusing to believe scientists or experts about factual news, coronavirus prevention, global warming, vaccines and established truth.”

“Think about the number of educated people in your life who share fake stories or believe B.S.”

Nicholas Kristoff: “The newest Social Progress Index, shared with me before its official release Thursday morning, finds that out of 163 countries assessed worldwide, the United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only ones in which people are worse off than when the index began in 2011. And the declines in Brazil and Hungary were smaller than America’s.”

Pew Research: “The coronavirus outbreak has pushed millions of Americans, especially young adults, to move in with family members. The share of 18- to 29-year-olds living with their parents has become a majority since U.S. coronavirus cases began spreading early this year, surpassing the previous peak during the Great Depression era.”

New research from Northwestern University shows that U.S. political parties “are becoming increasingly polarized due to their quest for voters — not because voters themselves are becoming more extremist.”

“The research team found that extremism is a strategy that has worked over the years even if voters’ views remain in the center. Voters are not looking for a perfect representative but a ‘satisficing,’ meaning ‘good enough,’ candidate.”

A new CBS News/YouGov poll finds just 35% who feel the country is better off today than four years ago, while 65% do not.

However, among just Republicans, 75% feel the country is better off, while 25% do not.

The main reason why is that 82% of Republicans have confidence in President Trump.

A new Gallup poll finds Americans’ satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. remains at the nine-year low recorded in July, with just 13% feeling satisfied.

A new Monmouth poll finds 22% of the public says the country is headed in the right direction while 72% says it is on the wrong track.

The “wrong track” number has been above 70% since early June.

A new Gallup poll finds just 13% of U.S. adults are satisfied with the state of the nation, down seven percentage points in the past month and 32 points since reaching a 15-year high in February.

Key finding: “The plunge in the U.S. mood, both in the past month and since February, is mostly occurring among Republicans. Republicans’ satisfaction today (20%) is about half what it was a month ago (39%) and down 60 points since February, after the Senate acquitted President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial.”

Gallup: “Americans’ ideological bent has shifted in the first half of 2020 with fewer people self-identifying as politically conservative in May and June than at the start of the year. There has been a corresponding increase in self-described liberals while the percentage moderate has been fairly steady.”

Ron Brownstein: “Donald Trump is running for the presidency of an America that no longer exists…”

“Americans today are far more racially diverse, less Christian, better educated, more urbanized, and less likely to be married. In polls, they are more tolerant of interracial and same-sex relationships, more likely to acknowledge the existence of racial discrimination, and less concerned about crime.”

“Almost all of these changes complicate Trump’s task in trying to rally a winning electoral coalition behind his alarms against marauding ‘angry mobs,’ ‘far-left fascism,’ and ‘the violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats.’ The Americans he is targeting with his messages of racial resentment and cultural backlash are uniformly a smaller share of American society now than they were then.”

A new Yahoo News/YouGov Poll reveals that while 54% of Americans believe that America was a “shining city on a hill” when Ronald Reagan used that phrase in his final speech as president, 62% of Americans now say the country is no longer a model for the rest of the world.

“The United States is different. In nearly every other high-income country, people have both become richer over the last three decades and been able to enjoy substantially longer lifespans,” the New York Times reports.

“But not in the United States. Even as average incomes have risen, much of the economic gains have gone to the affluent — and life expectancy has risen only three years since 1990. There is no other developed country that has suffered such a stark slowdown in lifespans.”

“Why has this happened? There are multiple causes. But one big one is a lack of political power among the bulk of the population.”

A new Pew Research national poll has this stunning finding: The percentage of Republicans who say they’re satisfied with the direction of the country has dropped below 50% — all the way to 19%.

Philip Bump: “New data from the Pew Research Center bolsters the idea that Trump’s position in the polls is worsening as a function of what’s happening in the country. Specifically, it seems likely that the pandemic is pushing his approval ratings lower, which, in turn, is making his position in the presidential contest more precarious.”