The US is better off than it was in 1976. So why does it feel worse?

Roughly 60 percent of Americans tell pollsters the nation is on the wrong track. A majority say its best years are behind it. | Getty Images This story was originally published on June 29 in The Highlight. To get access to member-exclusive stories like this every month, become a Vox Member today. America in the summer of 1976 was not in a good place.  The president who presided over the country’s bicentennial, President Gerald Ford, only had the job because the previous president and vice…