Americans' satisfaction with country's direction drops sharply: poll

Americans' satisfaction with the state of affairs dropped 12 percentage points in the past month, amid high-profile police killings of black men and mass shootings of police, found a latest Gallup poll.

Currently, only 17 percent of Americans are satisfied with the state of affairs in the U.S., sharply down from 29 percent in June, according to the July 13-17 poll.

Americans' satisfaction hit the lowest record of 16 percent in October 2013, when Republican-controlled Congress caused a federal government shutdown due to its political feud with the Democratic-led Obama administration.

For the past two years, Americans' satisfaction has been in the 20s and 30s, Gallup found.

This 12-point drop in satisfaction within one month is tied for the largest decrease in October 2008, when the financial crisis was deepening.

The poll came after a recent spate of violence between police and black citizens in the U.S., which have led to heightened racial tensions.

Eight police officers were killed and a dozen others were wounded by two black gunmen in the states of Louisiana and Texas in the past weeks.

The two incidents were preceded by two shootings in which two black men were killed by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. The killings sparked angry black protests nationwide, calling for justice for the African Americans in the country.

As a result, the poll found a surge in concern about race relations, with 18 percent of Americans saying race relations or racism is the most important problem facing the nation, a 13-point jump in the past month.

With political conventions and the possibility of ongoing racial unrest, satisfaction with the U.S. may remain low as uncertainty persists at least until the presidential election in November, Gallup said.

Donald Trump was nominated by the U.S. Republican Party for president at the just-concluded Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is to become the Democratic nominee at the Democratic National Convention to be held next week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Enditem