Survey: Louisianans split 50-50 on whether the state is headed in the right direction

The number of people who say Louisiana is heading in the right direction is on the rise.

That’s one of the findings in the annual Louisiana Survey conducted by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication.

It shows that the percentage of those who say the state is headed in the right direction and that of those who say the state is headed in the wrong direction is now split 50-50.

Two years ago, it was about two-to-one in favor of those who said the state is headed in the wrong direction.

“It’s not overwhelmingly positive this year, but it’s much more even,” says Survey Director Dr. Michael Henderson. “So we’re seeing an increase in the people saying the state is heading in the right direction and a decrease in the share of people saying it’s heading in the wrong direction.”

Still, a 50-50 split is something that Louisiana can take pride in, given the findings from just a short time ago.

“For the last few years in the survey we’ve seen just a lot of people saying the state’s heading in the wrong direction,” says Henderson. “I’m talking about two-thirds of the people’s what we’ve seen in the last few years. In fact, we even hit a record high.”

Henderson says a big driver of that is people’s views on the economy.

“Not just like, ‘Oh I think the economy is great,’ but like, ‘I think my financial situation is better,'” says Henderson.

Henderson says while this latest survey will certainly bring a smile to Gov. Landry’s face, it’s important to note that the trend started reversing itself from rock-bottom during the administration of his predecessor, John Bel Edwards.

“The trend did start a little bit the year before, but it’s the bigger part of the shift really has come in the last 12 months,” Henderson says. “That rise really started from the low point two years ago. So we got a little bit of the increase before he took office and then a bigger share of the increase since he took office.”

More than 1,000 Louisiana residents were surveyed both by telephone and online for this study.