Rare News Desk
Seeing that the State of the Union Address (SOTUA) is tomorrow, it wouldn’t hurt to think a bit about how our president has performed his duties since January 2009 — has it really been five years?
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Gallup has created, for your enjoyment — everyone loves graphs, right? (Nope.) — an interactive “Presidential Job Approval” center, illustrating the ebbs and flows in the approval-disapproval ratings of various administrations, as determined by you.
When it comes to President Obama, the latest polls reveal that it is, unsurprisingly, the older generation that disapproves of his body of work more, while the young and impressionable rate him noticeably higher. In fact, after the age group of 18-29, approval ratings decline steadily. This is supported by these facts: the age group 18-29 is 49 percent in favor of the president’s job thus far, while ages 30-65+ sit at 39 percent.
As a general rule, the young do tend to be more optimistic as a bloc, while jadedness and cynicism begin to settle in on the older citizens who’ve “seen it all.” Perhaps this is why Barack Obama’s failure to keep his promises, the same promises he’s made in each of his SOTUA’s, continues to be lost on the young, but is increasingly noticed by the old.
Keep an eye out for certain terms of art like: “fair shot,” “opportunity,” “equality/inequality,” “strengthening of the middle class,” “education of our children,” and “creating jobs,” in his speech Tuesday night. These are the same talking points of the previous four SOTUA’s, and that they are the same should speak volumes. Not convinced? Take a quick look at this article recently appearing on Rare, which highlights — or should I say lowlights? — five particular broken promises.
Expect similar “promises” to be made tomorrow night.
And hey, if you really do like graphs after all, have at it — you can compare approval ratings of presidencies as far back as Truman, if that’s what you’re into.
