Life Got Better For Pretty Much Everyone Under Obama

[Straight Shooter]

How Americans feel about the state of their lives have improved markedly in the eight years since Barack Obama was elected president, according to Gallup data released Tuesday.

In 2008, fewer than half of Americans said their life was good enough to be considered "thriving," according to Gallup. But that's changed: "The 55.4% who are thriving so far in 2016 is on pace to be the highest recorded in the nine years Gallup and Healthways have tracked it," according to the report.

Not only that, members of each ethnic or racial group in Gallup's study feel better about their lives.

"The percentages of U.S. whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians who are thriving have all increased during the Obama era," Gallup notes. The percentage of blacks thriving has risen by about 6 points, as has the percentage of whites and Hispanics. Asian thriving has risen by about 10 points since 2008.

Gallup measures "thriving" according to how poll respondents rate both their current lives and their expectations for life in the future. On a scale of zero to 10, "those who rate their present life a 7 or higher and their life in five years an 8 or higher are classified as thriving."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently made a much-criticized pitch to black voters, asking them "what do you have to lose" by voting for Trump over Hillary. This has prompted a number of black voters to respond with what, exactly, they'd be worried about losing in a Trump presidency, from civil rights to recent gains in employment, income and education.

The Gallup numbers, showing improving self-assessments of blacks' quality of life, reflect this. They also show that, contrary to some perceptions that white Americans have been losing out, Obama-era gains aren't limited to just one racial or ethnic group. Gallup notes that Obama's second term "shows an improvement in whites' life evaluations -- particularly those of white Republicans." In a previous 2013-2015 Gallup survey, about 55 percent of white Republicans were thriving, up from 51 percent in the 2011-2012 survey.

Of course, no president has the power to wave a magic wand and make peoples' lives better. These measure is likely an indicator of the variety of factors influencing people's lives that presidents have limited control over -- the economy chief among them. In 2008, for instance, the country was in the midst of the Great Recession. An increase in the percentage of people calling themselves thriving since then is hardly surprising. Certainly, economic policies have been central to Obama's administration, including the 2009 stimulus package and the $80 billion auto-industry bailout. But his supporters and detractors disagree on the extent to which those policies helped pull the country out of the recession. Factors largely out of his control, like the Federal Reserve's lowering of interest rates and the U.S. energy boom that cut fuel prices - arguably played even bigger roles.

The Gallup numbers suggest that for many Americans, fewer things today need fixing than they did eight years ago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-gallup-president-obama-20160831-story.html

Interesting. Discuss

 

[Mayhem]

Obama/Warren 2016!!!

 

[sean miguel]

My life under the Maobamao (want to cover it all there) administration has actually not gotten any worse. I'm still in the workforce, not on food stamps, haven't been a victim of a crime, I don't hate other ethnic groups any more than I did, I still respect law enforcement, haven't been killed or maimed in a terrorist attack and so forth. I'm one of the lucky ones I guess.

It's actually improved. I'm healthier, making more money, have more stuff, a nicer car, my personal relationships have thrived, I got rid of cable, my internet speeds have never been faster. Theres been some kick ass game franchises in the last 8 years.

I've been really fortunate or as I think of it, blessed. And my life was pretty good under Bush. Other than my health insurance premiums going up by 70% since Obamacare was fully implemented, I can't think of anything in my life so far that has been directly affected positive/negative by a President's policies.

But I'm selfish like that and think only of myself.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Buncha cotdam racists
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-29/black-americans-in-the-c-suite-a-look-at-the-obama-era-declines

He was claiming blacks were better off in 2014, they're not.

http://ijr.com/2014/12/220847-obama-claims-black-america-better-off-but-facts-say-otherwise/

http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...k-obama-going-backwards-under-president-obama



The only thing you have is revisionist history, get to writing bitches.. oh I see you already have.

 

[Will E Worm]

America under Barry is far worse.


He lies all the time, and Obamacare is the failure we told you it would be.

 

[Rey C.]

That is an interesting stat, especially when juxtaposed with the stat that 60%+ believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Different polls, although roughly similar in nature, may pick up very different opinions from the same population. Although the state of my finances (and life in general) has improved over the past 8 years, I could say the same thing about the past 20 years and the past 30 years. Apart from a rough patch during the Great Recession, life's been good to me (thanks, Joe Walsh ). The Fed's monetary policies have generally had a greater affect on me and my finances than what the President has or hasn't done. If more Americans understood basic economics, I believe they would feel the same way. And even though the current Fed chair is a total muppet, she hasn't done anything to upset the apple cart (yet). But with that said, I'm in the majority that believes that the country is heading in the wrong direction. But that doesn't just have to do with Obama or his policies. That feeling also has to do with our broken political, judicial, healthcare and educational systems, breakdown of the traditional family, the lower workforce participation rate, the rising national debt and the share of the budget that it will eventually take to service that debt in years to come as rates rise, etc.

But for me personally, yeah... I'm pretty content. As long as I don't fall victim to the temptation to have a young stripper or an old Jaguar, I'm just a short distance from early retirement. But Obama gets no credit for that. Neither does any Republican.