In 2008, Barack Obama was the change candidate.
This is a data-driven look at how much America transformed during his eight years as our
President.
Pause or rewind the video if you need more time with any of the data.
After spiking during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate is below 5% today.
And the stock market has more than doubled.
Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, plunged the percentage of adults without health insurance
to the lowest level in history.
While the share of income going to the top 1% has continued to increase, average Americans
saw the biggest jump in their household income ever in 2015, and the biggest drop in poverty
since the great society programs of the 1960’s.
The violent crime rate is down almost 20% from when Obama took office.
America’s image abroad was lifted as President Obama turned away from the policies of George
W. Bush and toward a more active pursuit of diplomacy to solve problems.
Today, there are less than 15,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to the 175,000
when he took office.
But this was coupled with Americans themselves becoming more wary of international engagement.
On energy, the Obama administration has reduced carbon emissions by 9.4%, greatly expanded
wind and solar power, and cut America’s dependence on foreign oil by more than half.
In 2015, for the first time since at least 1980, the number of inmates in federal prisons
actually declined.
8 states have now legalized marijuana and - for first time - a majority of Americans
overall support legalization.
A majority of Americans also favor the Supreme Court’s ruling that essentially legalized
same-sex marriage nationwide.
Culturally, the biggest change came when Apple released the first iPhone during Obama’s
campaign for the democratic nomination in 2007.
In the decade since, smartphone use has exploded and about half of all Americans now own a
tablet too.
But all that technology has led to a constant stream of stories and images of violence and
victimization, especially at the hands of police, seen all over the social media feeds
of many Americans, that’s led to a widespread perception that race relations have deteriorated.
Millennials are now the nation’s largest living generation and the biggest potential
voting block.
For the first time in 2013, the majority of newborn babies were racial or ethnic minorities,
and a record-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race.
Despite some people’s perception, the past seven years has seen little change in the
number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, there was actually a net
loss of over 100,000 immigrants who went back to Mexico.
The biggest religious trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those claiming no
religion at all--a group now making up a quarter of the population, and 35% of millennials.
As you can see from President Obama’s approval ratings among democrats and republicans, modern
America has never been so divided along partisan lines.
Far more democrats than republicans now say immigrants strengthen the country; and when
it comes to guns, far more republicans now think we should prioritize gun rights over
gun control.
For various reasons, both democrats and republicans have much less faith in government.
Most Americans didn’t think the government’s actions after the financial crisis helped
them.
On national security, after the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, for the
first time since 9/11, the government’s job rating on terrorism turned negative.
And, driven by the campaign of Donald Trump, Republicans have suddenly become anti-free
trade and globalization.
As you can see, Democrats’ views have remained roughly the same.
Only one-third of Americans used social media in 2008, but by 2015 that rate was 75%.
Obama was also the first Internet video president, as this media genre came of age during his
time in office.
YouTube now has over a billion users.
In 2016, more American adults learned about the presidential election through social media
than through print newspapers, with seven-in-ten getting their news through a mobile device.
Seven-in-ten adults also say the media has a negative effect on the way things are going
in the country.
However, eight-in-ten thought it was the media’s job to fact check the candidates during the
election.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe robots and computers will do much of the work currently
being done by humans in the next 50 years, (32) but the same survey shows that 80% think
their current jobs will still exist in their current forms in 50 years.
So it’s clear whether it’s electing the historically unpopular Trump, or grappling
with the lighting-quick speed of technology, or accepting the slow but inevitable browning
of our fellow citizens, America is struggling mightily with the changes that are taking
place.
In less than 40 years, the U.S. will not have a single racial or ethnic majority group,
and by 2065 one-in-three Americans will be an immigrant or have immigrant parents, compared
to one-in-four today.
To underscore how Americans are struggling with how to deal with these changes, during
the election, Clinton and Trump supporters said that they couldn’t even agree on basic
facts.
So it’s pretty obvious that Americans, but especially the supporters of Donald Trump,
are very anxious about where the country is, and where it’s heading.
So that’s where we’re at the end of Obama’s time in office, the big question is where
we’ll be at the end of Trump’s, and when that end will come.
Thanks for watching.
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Until next time, for The Daily Conversation, I’m Bryce Plank.