As President Obama heads to his latest State of the Union address Tuesday evening, Americans’ satisfaction with the country’s economy and overall quality of life are up from a year ago, but their views on race relations are down sharply.
Forty-one percent are at least somewhat satisfied with the state of the nation’s economy — up from 28 percent a year ago, according to Gallup. And 84 percent are somewhat or very satisfied with overall quality of life, up 10 points from 74 percent last year.
On the other end of the spectrum, 30 percent are satisfied with the state of race relations following a year that was dominated by headlines surrounding the shootings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers in Ferguson, Mo. and on Staten Island — down 25 percent from a year ago.
As the U.S. deals with overseas threats like the Islamic State terrorist group, people are also less satisfied about the nation’s security from terrorism. Fifty-nine percent are at least somewhat satisfied, compared to 69 percent last year.
The survey was conducted Jan. 5-8, spanning the Jan. 7 terrorist attack on the publication Charlie Hebdo in Paris that has attracted recent attention at home and abroad.
Other issues where more than 50 percent of Americans are at least somewhat satisfied are the nation’s strength and military preparedness (69 percent), the opportunity to get ahead by working hard (60 percent), quality of medical care (56 percent), influence of organized religion (53 percent), acceptance of gays and lesbians (53 percent) and quality of the environment (52 percent).
In addition to the low levels of satisfaction on the state of race relations, a third of Americans or less were satisfied with the country’s efforts to deal with poverty/homelessness (26 percent), the way wealth and income are distributed in the U.S. (31 percent), the amount Americans pay in federal taxes, government surveillance of U.S. citizens, and moral and ethical climate (all 32 percent), and the level of immigration (33 percent).
Compared to Jan. 2008, about a year before Mr. Obama first took office, satisfaction has increased the most in the availability of affordable health care (25 percent to 43 percent), acceptance of gays and lesbians (38 percent to 53 percent), the quality of medical care in the country (45 percent to 56 percent), and the level of immigration (23 percent to 33 percent).
It has decreased the most on the state of race relations (51 percent to 30 percent), the state of government and how well it works (53 percent to 37 percent), and the nation’s policies on abortion (43 percent to 34 percent).
“With Obama edging closer to the end of his presidency, he may be speaking as much to the future as to the members of Congress sitting before him,” Gallup’s Lydia Saad said. “In reviewing his achievements, economic progress is likely to be front and center, but he may also highlight the three issues on which public satisfaction — and particularly Democrats’ satisfaction — has increased the most since 2008: healthcare, gay rights, and immigration.”
The survey of 804 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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