Washington ( CNN ) -- For the first time since 2007 , a majority of Americans think things are going well in the nation , a new CNN/ORC International poll found . It 's a slim majority — just 52 percent of Americans said things are going well , while 48 percent said things are going badly — but it 's the most positive appraisal of the state of the nation that the poll has found since January of 2007 . And it marks consistent improvement in the mood of the nation over the past few months , despite a series of national security crises and continued gridlock in Washington . In September , 50 percent of respondents said things were going well . Economic sentiments have improved over the past year as well . Though just one-third of Americans believe the nation 's economy is starting to recover , that marks an 8-point increase from a year ago , when 24 percent said the same . A plurality , 41 percent , say the economy has stabilized , a 5-point improvement from November of 2013 . And just 26 percent of Americans say the country 's economic conditions are getting worse , a decline from the 39 percent who said so in 2013 . But the mood of the nation is n't consistently positive in the new CNN/ORC poll — it suggests both a gender and geographic divide . Men are both more positive about the state of the nation and the economy than women , the poll shows . Fifty-five percent of men say things are going well in America , compared to 48 percent of women who say the same ; 36 percent of men believe the economy is recovering , while only 28 percent of women say the same . And economic conditions appear to be better in the Northeast and Midwest than they are in the southern and western parts of the nation , as respondents are more likely in those regions to say the economy is improving . They 're also more likely to say that things are going well than their counterparts in the South and West . The CNN/ORC poll was conducted among 1,045 adults via telephone from Nov. 21-23 , and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 points .
Fifty-two percent of Americans say things are going well in the nation . One-third of Americans say the economy is improving , an 8-point increase from last year . The poll was conducted by telephone October 15-17 among a random national sample of 1,018 adults.