President Barack Obama will lay out his agenda for the year on Tuesday night before a nation increasingly worried about his abilities, dissatisfied with the economy and fearful for the country's future, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
According to an article in Wall Street Journal by By Neil King Jr. and Patrick O'Connor, Since the rise of modern polling in the 1930s, only George W. Bush has begun his sixth year in the White House on rockier ground than Mr. Obama. At the same time, the public supports many of the themes and policy ideas Mr. Obama looks set to emphasize in his annual State of the Union address to Congress. Large majorities of respondents said they want the White House and lawmakers to focus on job creation and early-childhood education, and a slimmer majority favored increasing the minimum wage.
Just over half of the 800 Americans participating in the Jan. 22-25 poll want the government to play a role in reducing income inequality, and Mr. Obama is expected to back proposals in those areas as part of a broader effort to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Mr. Obama didn't see much progress on his call in last year's address for swift action to tighten gun laws, address climate change and raise the minimum wage. A comprehensive immigration bill he backed passed the Senate, but House Republicans say they will pursue a piecemeal approach.
The president is expected to revive many of those ideas in this year's speech. "You lay outgoals at the beginning of the year that aren't limited to, you know, a one-year evaluation," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, who defended the president's record, telling reporters on Monday that historians would judge the president's legislative record to date as "huge and important." The survey found that just over half of Americans disapprove of the president's job performance, with 43% approving, a trough that remains little changed since the early summer.
Nearly six in 10 say they are uncertain, worried or pessimistic about what he will do with the remainder of his presidency. Disapproval for Congress, too, is near its all-time high. Mr. Obama's congressional address may offer him the best chance of the year "to try to achieve a reset with a focus on the economy after last year's glitches with Obamacare," said Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster who helped conduct the survey.Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who also helped craft the poll, said Mr. Obama's personal standing has taken such a hit over the past year that "re-establishing his approval rating will be very difficult."
White House aides say the president also plans to use the nationally televised address to make a case for increased efforts—through executive action, if necessary—to expand hiring, infrastructure development, job training and educational opportunities, while taking moves to combat climate change. Nearly three-quarters of poll respondents said the president should also make a top priority of reducing the federal budget deficit, an objective that Mr. Obama hasn't emphasized recently. Deficit reduction ranked second as a priority, after job creation, among a list of issues presented to respondents.
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