Story highlights Overall, 69% say they favor a diplomatic approach to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons

Despite the broad support for diplomacy, Americans are more skeptical about lifting economic sanctions

Washington (CNN) Nearly 6-in-10 Americans say things are going badly in the United States, the largest share to say so in more than two years, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll.

The negative turn in views of how things are going in the U.S. comes as the state of the country has become a flashpoint in the 2016 presidential campaign, with the Republican front-runner Donald Trump resting his campaign on a promise to restore America's greatness and national Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton vows to build on the progress Obama has made as president.

Overall, 57% say things in the country today are going badly, while 42% say they're going well. That's a downturn compared to a poll conducted just after Thanksgiving, when 49% said things were going well compared to 50% who said they were going badly.

Obama's popularity

But none of that seems to be deflating Obama's approval ratings heading into the final year of his presidency.

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