I didn’t realize that Big Oil and Wall Street freeloaders could make up 24%, but I guess you learn something new every day..

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll showed that 24 percent have a positive outlook for the country, while 76 percent say things are on the wrong track.

It is the lowest number on record since 1980 and the third time in four decades that the number has dropped so low.

Recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. polling has shown a steady drop in the country’s mood. In April 2007, 51 percent said things in the country were going badly. A year later, 70 percent reiterated that position.

The poll questioned 1,041 adult Americans by telephone July 27-29, 2008. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“Only three events — Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, and the economic downturn of 1992 — have driven below 30 percent the number who think things are going well,” CNN’s polling director Keating Holland said. The mood of the country has been assessed since 1974.

Only four presidents — Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and the elder George Bush — have seen that number drop below 30 percent during their time in office; their parties all lost the White House in the next presidential election.