The Trouble Is Serious: That is the state of the nation, says a majority in a TIME poll.

The article reports on the findings of the survey conducted by the opinion research firm of Yankelovich, Skelly and White Inc. on the pessimism of people regarding the capability of President James Earl Carter or any other politician to cure inflation in the U.S. A record low of 23% of respondents feel things are going well in the country compared with 45% in June 1977. Inflation and the apparent inability of the government have been the main concern of Americans polled. The survey found that half of those surveyed noted the essentiality of mandatory price controls to help check inflation even though popular opposition is considered for the failure of controls in the past.