Americans Do Not Want Obama Campaigning Again

How America Changed During Barack Obama's Presidency

Barack Obama campaigned for the U.S. presidency on a platform of change. As he prepares to leave office, the country he led for eight years is undeniably unlike. Profound social, demographic and technological changes have swept across the United States during Obama's tenure, every bit take of import shifts in authorities policy and public opinion.

Apple tree released its first iPhone during Obama'southward 2007 entrada, and he announced his vice presidential pick – Joe Biden – on a ii-year-erstwhile platform called Twitter. Today, use of smartphones and social media has go the norm in U.S. guild, not the exception.

The ballot of the nation'due south outset black president raised hopes that race relations in the U.S. would meliorate, specially among black voters. Just by 2016, following a spate of loftier-contour deaths of black Americans during encounters with constabulary and protests by the Blackness Lives Matter motion and other groups, many Americans – especially blacks – described race relations as generally bad.

The U.Southward. economy is in much ameliorate shape now than it was in the backwash of the Great Recession, which cost millions of Americans their homes and jobs and led Obama to push through a roughly $800 billion stimulus package every bit one of his first orders of business. Unemployment has plummeted from 10% in tardily 2009 to beneath 5% today; the Dow Jones Industrial Boilerplate has more than doubled.

But by some measures, the land faces serious economic challenges: A steady hollowing of the heart class, for case, continued during Obama's presidency, and income inequality reached its highest point since 1928.

Obama'south election quickly elevated America'due south image abroad, especially in Europe, where George Westward. Bush was deeply unpopular post-obit the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In 2009, shortly after Obama took office, residents in many countries expressed a precipitous increase in confidence in the ability of the U.South. president to do the right thing in international affairs. While Obama remained largely pop internationally throughout his tenure, in that location were exceptions, including in Russia and key Muslim nations. And Americans themselves became more wary of international date.

Views on some high-profile social problems shifted rapidly. Eight states and the Commune of Columbia legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, a legal shift accompanied by a striking reversal in public opinion: For the showtime time on record, a majority of Americans now back up legalization of the drug.

As it often does, the Supreme Court settled momentous legal battles during Obama's tenure, and in 2015, it overturned long-standing bans on aforementioned-sex marriage, finer legalizing such unions nationwide. Even earlier the court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell five. Hodges, a majority of Americans said for the first time that they favored aforementioned-sex activity union.

As the Obama era draws to a close, Pew Research Center looks back on these and other important social, demographic and political shifts that have occurred at abode and away during the tenure of the 44th president. And nosotros look alee to some of the trends that could define the tenure of the 45th, Donald Trump.

Related: How America Changed During Donald Trump's Presidency

Who nosotros are

Demographic changes don't happen speedily. Obama'south presidency is only a chapter in a story that began long before his arrival and will continue long after his difference. Fifty-fifty so, the U.Due south. of today differs in some significant ways from the U.S. of 2008.

Millennials are approaching Babe Boomers equally the nation'southward largest living adult generation and as the largest generation of eligible voters.

The nation's growing diversity has become more evident, too. In 2013, for the first time, the majority of newborn babies in the U.S. were racial or ethnic minorities. The aforementioned yr, a record-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a dissimilar race.

The November electorate was the country'due south almost racially and ethnically diverse ever. Near one-in-three eligible voters on Election Day were Hispanic, black, Asian or some other racial or indigenous minority, reflecting a steady ascent since 2008. Strong growth in the number of Hispanic eligible voters, in particular U.Southward.-built-in youth, drove much of this change. Indeed, for the first time, the Hispanic share of the electorate is now on par with the black share.

While illegal immigration served every bit a flashpoint in the tumultuous entrada to succeed Obama, at that place has been little modify in the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. since 2009. And for the first time since the 1940s, more than Mexican immigrants – both legal and unauthorized – have returned to United mexican states from the U.Southward. than accept entered.

When it comes to the nation'south religious identity, the biggest trend during Obama'southward presidency is the rise of those who claim no organized religion at all. Those who self-identify every bit atheists or agnostics, every bit well as those who say their religion is "nothing in detail," at present make up well-nigh a quarter of the U.S. adult population, up from 16% in 2007.

Christians, meanwhile, have fallen from 78% to 71% of the U.S. adult population, owing mainly to small declines in the share of adults who place with mainline Protestantism and Catholicism. The share of Americans identifying with evangelical Protestantism, historically black Protestant denominations and other smaller Christian groups, by contrast, have remained fairly stable.

Due largely to the growth of those who don't identify with any organized religion, the shares of Americans who say they believe in God, consider religion to be very important in their lives, say they pray daily and say they attend religious services at least monthly have all ticked downward in contempo years. At the same time, the large majority of Americans who practice identify with a organized religion are, on average, as religiously observant equally they were a few years agone, and by some measures even more and so.

The tide of demographic changes in the U.S. has affected both major parties, but in different ways. Democratic voters are condign less white, less religious and better-educated at a faster rate than that of the country, while Republicans are aging more speedily than the state every bit a whole. Pedagogy, in detail, has emerged as an important dividing line in recent years, with college graduates condign more than likely to identify as Democrats and those without a college degree condign more likely to identify as Republicans.

What we believe

More politically divided

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in November's bitterly contested election, becoming the offset person ever to win the White Business firm with no prior political or armed forces experience. Simply the divisions that emerged during the campaign and in its backwash had been building long before Trump announced his candidacy, and despite Obama's stated aim of reducing partisanship.

Partisan divisions in assessments of presidential performance, for example, are wider now than at any indicate going back more than than six decades, and this growing gap is largely the consequence of increasing disapproval of the chief executive from the opposition party. An boilerplate of simply xiv% of Republicans have approved of Obama over the course of his presidency, compared with an boilerplate of 81% of Democrats.

Obama'south signature legislative achievement – the 2010 health care law that informally bears his proper name – has prompted some of the sharpest divisions between Democrats and Republicans. Well-nigh three-quarters of Democrats approve of the Affordable Care Deed, or "Obamacare," while 85% of Republicans disapprove of it.

But the partisanship so axiomatic during Obama's years is perhaps about notable because information technology extended far beyond disagreements over specific leaders, parties or proposals. Today, more than issues carve along partisan lines than at whatsoever point since surveys began to runway public opinion.

Betwixt 1994 and 2005, for example, Republicans' and Democrats' attitudes toward immigrants in the U.S. tracked one another closely. Kickoff around 2006, however, they began to diverge. And the gap has simply grown wider since and then: Democrats today are more than than twice as probable as Republicans to say that immigrants strengthen the country.

Gun command has long been a partisan result, with Democrats considerably more than likely than Republicans to say information technology is more important to control gun buying than protect gun rights. But what was a 27-pct-point gap between supporters of Obama and John McCain on this question in 2008 surged to a historic 70-indicate gap between Clinton and Trump supporters in 2016.

Climate change marks another expanse where the parties are securely divided. Wide partisan divides stretch from the causes and cures for climate change to trust in climate scientists and their research. Simply virtually a fifth of Republicans and independents who lean Republican say they trust climate scientists "a lot" to give full and accurate information nearly the causes of climate change. This compares with more than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.

Skeptical of government, other institutions

If views of some issues inverse markedly during Obama's time in office, views of the government did not. Americans' trust in the federal government remained mired at historic lows. Elected officials were held in such low regard, in fact, that more than than half of the public said in a fall 2015 survey that "ordinary Americans" would do a better job of solving national problems.

Americans felt disillusioned with the way Washington responded to the financial meltdown of 2008. In 2015, seven-in-ten Americans said that the regime's policies following the recession more often than not did little or nothing to help middle-grade people. A roughly equal share said the government's post-recession policies did a keen deal or a fair amount to help big banks and fiscal institutions.

Against a properties of global terrorism – including several attacks on American soil – Americans as well became less confident in the ability of their government to handle threats. In 2015, following major attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, the public's concerns about terrorism surged and positive ratings of the regime's handling of terrorism plummeted to a postal service-nine/11 low.

Americans also had serious concerns nigh privacy, though the government was not the sole focus of skepticism in this respect. During the Obama years, Americans were highly skeptical their personal information would remain individual and secure, regardless of whether it was the regime or the private sector that collected it. In a 2014 survey, fewer than one-in-x Americans said they were very confident that each of 11 separate entities – ranging from credit card companies to e-mail providers – would proceed their records individual and secure.

Our place in the earth

Obama'south election provided an almost firsthand boost to America'due south global image following the Bush administration and its entanglements in the Middle East. Americans themselves, yet, grew more wary of international engagement during Obama'due south presidency.

In Germany, favorability of the U.S. more than doubled following Obama'southward ballot. In the United Kingdom, confidence in the U.S. president surged from 16% for Bush in 2008 to 86% for Obama in 2009. The Obama bump was most dramatic in Western Europe, simply was as well axiomatic in virtually every state surveyed between 2007 and 2009.

The U.S. retained its popularity in Africa and parts of Latin America during Obama's second term. But the U.S. wasn't seen favorably everywhere. Russian views of the U.Southward. veered sharply negative in 2014 while the paradigm of the U.Southward. remained dour in key Muslim countries. Meanwhile, sure U.S. deportment nether Obama, such equally drone strikes, eavesdropping on foreign leaders and revelations of torture in the post-9/11 period, were globally unpopular.

Americans, meanwhile, accept become less certain of their identify in the earth. The share of Americans who say it would be amend if the U.Due south. just dealt with its own problems and let other countries deal with their ain as all-time they can has risen 11 points since the spring of 2010.

The public'south wariness toward global appointment extends to U.S. participation in the global economic system and international merchandise agreements. Roughly half of Americans say U.S. involvement in the global economy is a bad matter because it lowers wages and costs jobs; fewer see it as a good thing because it provides the U.S. with new markets and opportunities for growth. Americans' views of trade agreements have also soured, a shift driven almost entirely by increasingly negative views among Republicans, especially during the campaign of Trump, who has been highly critical of free merchandise agreements.

Nearly one-half of Americans say the U.S. is a less powerful and important world leader than it was a decade ago, though most even so believe the U.Southward. is the world's leading economical and military ability.

How we interact

Smartphones and social media

If demographic changes are slow, technological changes can be swift. In the new millennium, major technology revolutions have occurred in broadband connectivity, social media use and mobile adoption. All iii of them continued, and in some cases accelerated, during Obama's presidency.

More than 2-thirds of Americans owned a smartphone by 2015, half-dozen times the buying levels at the dawn of Obama's tenure. When Apple released the iPad halfway through Obama's starting time term, a mere three% of Americans owned tablets; virtually one-half had tablets by the end of 2015.

Although social media utilize was a signature aspect of Obama's 2008 campaign, but ane-3rd of Americans used social media that year. With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other apps, social media use climbed to near iii-quarters of online adults by 2015.

Obama likewise helped usher in the rise of digital video in politics, sharing his weekly accost through the White Business firm YouTube channel. By the end of his second term, YouTube had become a media behemoth with over a billion users.

How we get our news

The rise of digital tools and social platforms has besides helped bring about profound changes in the U.South. media landscape. Americans today admission information, go news and engage with politicians in new and unlike ways than in 2008 – a trend underscored by the political success of Trump, whose frequent use of Twitter to communicate directly with supporters (and detractors) was one of the defining narratives of his campaign to succeed Obama.

In 2016, more U.S. adults learned about the presidential election through social media than through impress newspapers. Younger Americans, in item, were more probable to turn to social media rather than more traditional platforms, with those ages eighteen to 29 listing it as their "near helpful" source for election information in a January 2016 survey. (Cable TV, past contrast, remained among the near helpful sources for all other adults.)

The overall American news experience changed significantly during Obama'south years in office. In 2008, relatively few Americans said they got their news through social media or via a smartphone or other mobile device. By 2016, half dozen-in-x Americans said they got their news through social media and seven-in-10 said they accessed it through a mobile device.

Print newspapers continued a long-term decline, with sharp cuts in paper staffing and a severe dip in average apportionment. Newspaper editorial staff in the U.S. went from nearly 47,000 in 2008 to about 33,000 in 2014 – a 30% driblet, according to data from the American Society of News Editors.

While television remains a major source of news for Americans, there are signs of change. Viewership of local TV newscasts has been flat or declining for years, depending on the time of day. Between 2007 and 2015, average viewership for tardily-night newscasts declined 22%, according to analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Overall, Americans remained extremely wary of the news media. In a 2016 survey, seven-in-10 adults said the media has a "negative effect" on the way things are going in the U.S. today – the highest share of any nongovernmental institution polled. Nigh iii-quarters said in a separate survey that the news media are biased.

But for all the skepticism facing the media, Americans continued to value the watchdog functions of the printing. About eight-in-ten registered voters, for instance, said it is the news media'south responsibility to fact-check political candidates and campaigns. Three-in-four said that news organizations keep political leaders from doing things they shouldn't.

The future of the media is likely to be an even more salient question following the 2016 presidential campaign, which saw the emergence of a trend of "fake news" that has caused some observers to say that America has entered a menses of "post-truth politics."

Looking ahead

While the 2016 ballot may be ane for the history books, looking ahead requires equal measures of caution and humility, particularly when information technology comes to politics and public policy.

It remains to be seen, for example, whether Donald Trump will button frontwards on some of his highest-profile campaign priorities, such as constructing a wall on the U.Due south. border with United mexican states, lowering federal taxes and reducing government regulation. On some of his priorities, Trump appears to have the support of the public; on others, he appears to be out of stride with public sentiment. Either way, history suggests that stance can change significantly as general proposals motion to concrete legislation.

However, at that place are sure bigger trends nosotros know are going to continue and others that show no signs of reversing.

The technological changes that were such a hallmark of Obama's 8 years will go on, constantly reshaping the manner we communicate, the way we travel, the manner we shop and the way we work, amidst many other facets of everyday life. Americans seem to expect major changes: More than than six-in-ten, for example, believe that inside 50 years, robots or computers will practise much of the work that is currently done past humans.

The demographic changes that have taken hold across the U.S. will continue their transformation of America, too. The nation as a whole will turn grayer and its racial and ethnic diversification is expected to continue: In less than 40 years, the U.Southward. volition not have a single racial or ethnic majority group, according to Pew Research Center projections.

The U.S. has also long been habitation to more immigrants than any other country in the earth, and by 2065, one-in-three Americans will exist an immigrant or take immigrant parents, compared with about one-in-iv today.

The nation'southward stark partisan fissures are likely to persist and may deepen. Just as Obama's chore approval ratings are deeply divided along partisan lines, the public'due south ratings for how Trump has handled his transition to the White House are more divided by party than they were for recent presidents-elect. A reality of American politics today is that one of the but things large numbers of Republicans and Democrats can agree on is that they can't concord on bones facts.

The foreign policy challenges facing this politically fractured nation seem countless, from Russia and People's republic of china to terrorism and the environment. At home, financial prosperity – fifty-fifty stability – feels increasingly out of reach to many Americans: Today, far more people are pessimistic than optimistic about life for the next generation of Americans.

Yet the U.s.a. enters this uncertain new era with undeniable, if often overlooked, strengths. Republicans and Democrats, for case, differ dramatically over whether the nation has gotten more or less powerful as a global leader over the past decade, just majorities in both parties say the U.Due south. is however the world's leading military – and yes, economic – ability. And most Americans say that 1 of the hallmarks of U.S. social club – its racial and ethnic diversity – makes the country a improve place to alive.

It is tempting to believe that the step of change in the U.S. has never been greater, or that 2016's ballot is of greater consequence than others. As significant as the current moment of transition is, withal, just the passage of time can reveal the trends that will truly take lasting importance.

Notation: The 2nd paragraph of the "Who nosotros are" section of this essay and its accompanying graphic were updated on May 21, 2018. The changes reflect the Heart's revised definition of the Millennial generation and the updated year in which Millennials become the largest generation in the U.S. and in the American electorate.

Michael Dimock is the president of Pew Research Center, where he leads a domestic and international research agenda to explicate public attitudes, demographic changes and other trends over time. A political scientist by training, Dimock has been at the Center since 2000 and has co-authored several of its landmark research reports, including studies of trends in American political and social values and a groundbreaking test of political polarization within the American public.

booneplack2001.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/2017/01/10/how-america-changed-during-barack-obamas-presidency/