The 2016 State of the Union: Considering the Public's Opinion.
Byline: Lydia Saad, Frank Newport and Jeffrey M. Jones
Synopsis: Gallup analyzes the public opinion context surrounding many of the proposals and statements President Barack Obama made in his Tuesday State of the Union address.
PRINCETON, N.J. -- President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address this week, providing an opportunity to analyze existing public opinion about some of the proposals and assertions he made in his speech.
In many cases, the president accurately assesses the state of public opinion or offers proposals that the American public is likely to support. On some, though, Americans probably disagree.
Here are key moments in the speech and what Americans have already said about these ideas:
Standard of Living
All these trends have squeezed workers, even when they have jobs; even when the economy is growing. It's made it harder for a hardworking family to pull itself out of poverty, harder for young people to start their careers, tougher for workers to retire when they want to.
This downcast view of Americans' financial circumstances may have been more appropriate during the recession than it is today. Seventy-nine percent of Americans in December said they were satisfied with their standard of living and 62% said it was getting better. That is substantially improved over the low point in November 2008 when 69% were satisfied and just 35% believed it was getting better. Of eight indicators of Americans' financial health that Gallup tracks annually each April, retirement is at the top, with 60% saying they are very or moderately worried that they won't have enough money for it. While this is down from 67% in 2012, it is still higher than the 52% to 54% range found in the early 2000s.
Education
In the coming years, we should build on that progress [No Child Left Behind], by providing pre-K for all.
Recent Gallup polling has found broad and bipartisan support for expanding federal funding for preschool education. In 2014, 70% of U.S. adults, including 87% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans, favored increasing federal preschool funding to make sure high-quality preschool programs were available to every child in the country. Separately, in 2013, 73% of U.S. adults told Gallup that if given the choice, they would vote "for" a law establishing federal and state programs that "would make high-quality preschools available to every child in America."
Social Security
That's why Social Security and Medicare are more...
To continue reading
Request your trial