WASHINGTON — Republicans entered the final week of the midterm campaign holding higher ground than Democrats, aided by public dissatisfaction with President Obama’s leadership, the direction of the country and the federal government’s ability to deal with major problems, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Driving attitudes is a pervasive sense of a nation in trouble. Overwhelming majorities say the country is badly off track and give the economy negative ratings. Economic expectations are little better today than they were at this time four years ago.

Six in 10 say they cannot trust the government in Washington to do what is right – the same as a year ago in the aftermath of the government shutdown and the botched rollout of the federal Web site for the Affordable Care Act.

With multiple crises confronting the country – including the spread of Ebola in West Africa and cases here at home, as well as threats from Islamic State militants – a majority now says the government’s ability to deal with big problems has declined in the past few years. Among those who say this, more – by 3 to 1 – blame Obama and the Democrats than Republicans in Congress.

The sense of disgruntlement appears to be coloring public interest in the 2014 campaign, which has been marked by an unprecedented amount of money spent by candidates and, especially, outside groups.

Voters in states with competitive Senate races have been barraged with negative ads that began running early this year and now clog local newscasts.

The new survey highlights that there is less interest in this midterm campaign than there was in the 2010 and 2006 elections – 2 in 3 people say they are closely following this year, compared with 3 in 4 who were doing the same in 2010. Just 22 percent of voters say they have been contacted by an individual or organization regarding the congressional campaign, 12 percentage points lower than at this time four years ago.

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