How America Inverse During Barack Obama's Presidency

Barack Obama campaigned for the U.South. presidency on a platform of change. As he prepares to leave office, the country he led for viii years is undeniably unlike. Profound social, demographic and technological changes have swept beyond the United states during Obama's tenure, equally have important shifts in government policy and public stance.

Apple tree released its first iPhone during Obama'due south 2007 entrada, and he announced his vice presidential pick – Joe Biden – on a ii-year-one-time platform called Twitter. Today, use of smartphones and social media has become the norm in U.Due south. society, not the exception.

The election of the nation's showtime black president raised hopes that race relations in the U.S. would amend, especially among black voters. Just past 2016, following a spate of high-contour deaths of black Americans during encounters with police and protests by the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups, many Americans – specially blacks – described race relations as generally bad.


The U.South. economy is in much meliorate shape now than information technology was in the backwash of the Great Recession, which price millions of Americans their homes and jobs and led Obama to push through a roughly $800 billion stimulus package as 1 of his outset orders of business organisation. Unemployment has plummeted from 10% in late 2009 to below 5% today; the Dow Jones Industrial Boilerplate has more than than doubled.

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

Obama's ballot apace elevated America'due south image abroad, peculiarly in Europe, where George W. Bush was securely unpopular post-obit the U.Due south. invasion of Iraq. In 2009, shortly after Obama took office, residents in many countries expressed a sharp increase in confidence in the ability of the U.S. 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 engagement.

Views on some high-contour social issues shifted rapidly. 8 states and the District of Columbia legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, a legal shift accompanied by a striking reversal in public stance: For the first time on record, a majority of Americans at present support legalization of the drug.

Equally it often does, the Supreme Courtroom settled momentous legal battles during Obama'south tenure, and in 2015, it overturned long-standing bans on same-sex marriage, effectively legalizing such unions nationwide. Even before the court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell 5. Hodges, a majority of Americans said for the first fourth dimension that they favored same-sex marriage.

Every bit the Obama era draws to a shut, Pew Inquiry Center looks back on these and other important social, demographic and political shifts that have occurred at domicile and abroad during the tenure of the 44th president. And we look ahead to some of the trends that could define the tenure of the 45th, Donald Trump.

Related: How America Inverse During Donald Trump's Presidency

Who we are

Demographic changes don't happen apace. Obama's presidency is only a affiliate in a story that began long before his arrival and volition continue long after his departure. Even so, the U.South. of today differs in some pregnant ways from the U.South. of 2008.

Millennials are budgeted Baby Boomers as the nation's largest living developed generation and as the largest generation of eligible voters.

The nation'due south growing diversity has become more evident, too. In 2013, for the start time, the bulk of newborn babies in the U.South. were racial or ethnic minorities. The aforementioned year, a tape-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race.

The November electorate was the country's almost racially and ethnically diverse e'er. Most one-in-three eligible voters on Election Twenty-four hour period were Hispanic, black, Asian or some other racial or ethnic minority, reflecting a steady rise since 2008. Strong growth in the number of Hispanic eligible voters, in particular U.Southward.-born youth, drove much of this change. Indeed, for the first fourth dimension, the Hispanic share of the electorate is now on par with the black share.

While illegal immigration served as a flashpoint in the tumultuous entrada to succeed Obama, there has been little alter in the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.South. since 2009. And for the first time since the 1940s, more Mexican immigrants – both legal and unauthorized – have returned to United mexican states from the U.Due south. than accept entered.

When it comes to the nation's religious identity, the biggest trend during Obama'south presidency is the rise of those who claim no religion at all. Those who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, also equally those who say their religion is "cipher in particular," now make up nearly a quarter of the U.S. adult population, upwards from 16% in 2007.

Christians, meanwhile, have fallen from 78% to 71% of the U.S. adult population, attributable mainly to modest 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 religion, the shares of Americans who say they believe in God, consider religion to exist very important in their lives, say they pray daily and say they nourish religious services at least monthly have all ticked downward in recent years. At the same time, the large majority of Americans who do identify with a religion are, on average, as religiously observant equally they were a few years ago, and by some measures even more so.

The tide of demographic changes in the U.S. has affected both major parties, but in unlike ways. Democratic voters are becoming less white, less religious and meliorate-educated at a faster rate than that of the land, while Republicans are aging more than quickly than the country as a whole. Educational activity, in particular, has emerged as an of import dividing line in recent years, with college graduates condign more than likely to identify as Democrats and those without a higher caste condign more likely to identify as Republicans.

What we believe

More politically divided

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in November'southward bitterly contested election, condign the start person e'er to win the White House with no prior political or military experience. Only the divisions that emerged during the campaign and in its aftermath had been edifice 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 at present than at any signal going dorsum more six decades, and this growing gap is largely the event of increasing disapproval of the chief executive from the opposition party. An boilerplate of only 14% of Republicans have approved of Obama over the course of his presidency, compared with an boilerplate of 81% of Democrats.

Obama's signature legislative accomplishment – the 2010 health care law that informally bears his name – has prompted some of the sharpest divisions betwixt Democrats and Republicans. About 3-quarters of Democrats approve of the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," while 85% of Republicans disapprove of information technology.

Simply the partisanship so evident during Obama'due south years is maybe nigh notable because it extended far across disagreements over specific leaders, parties or proposals. Today, more issues carve along partisan lines than at any point since surveys began to track public opinion.

Between 1994 and 2005, for example, Republicans' and Democrats' attitudes toward immigrants in the U.S. tracked one some other closely. Beginning effectually 2006, however, they began to diverge. And the gap has but grown wider since then: Democrats today are more than twice as likely equally Republicans to say that immigrants strengthen the country.

Gun control has long been a partisan result, with Democrats considerably more likely than Republicans to say it is more than important to control gun ownership than protect gun rights. Simply what was a 27-percentage-indicate gap betwixt supporters of Obama and John McCain on this question in 2008 surged to a historic 70-bespeak gap between Clinton and Trump supporters in 2016.

Climate alter marks another surface area where the parties are deeply divided. Wide partisan divides stretch from the causes and cures for climate alter to trust in climate scientists and their enquiry. Only about a 5th of Republicans and independents who lean Republican say they trust climate scientists "a lot" to give full and authentic information near the causes of climate change. This compares with more half of Democrats and Autonomous-leaning independents.

Skeptical of government, other institutions

If views of some issues changed markedly during Obama's time in office, views of the authorities 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 half of the public said in a autumn 2015 survey that "ordinary Americans" would practice a better job of solving national issues.

Americans felt disillusioned with the way Washington responded to the financial meltdown of 2008. In 2015, seven-in-10 Americans said that the government's policies following the recession more often than not did little or zero to aid middle-class people. A roughly equal share said the government's mail service-recession policies did a peachy deal or a fair amount to assist large banks and financial institutions.

Confronting a backdrop of global terrorism – including several attacks on American soil – Americans also 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 government's handling of terrorism plummeted to a post-ix/eleven low.

Americans also had serious concerns about 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 private and secure, regardless of whether it was the regime or the private sector that collected it. In a 2014 survey, fewer than one-in-ten Americans said they were very confident that each of 11 separate entities – ranging from credit menu companies to electronic mail providers – would proceed their records private and secure.

Our place in the world

Obama'due south election provided an nigh immediate boost to America's global paradigm following the Bush-league assistants and its entanglements in the Middle East. Americans themselves, however, grew more than wary of international engagement during Obama's presidency.

In Germany, favorability of the U.Southward. more than doubled following Obama's election. In the Uk, confidence in the U.Southward. president surged from 16% for Bush in 2008 to 86% for Obama in 2009. The Obama bump was most dramatic in Western Europe, but was as well evident in virtually every country surveyed betwixt 2007 and 2009.

The U.Southward. retained its popularity in Africa and parts of Latin America during Obama'due south second term. But the U.S. wasn't seen favorably everywhere. Russian views of the U.South. veered sharply negative in 2014 while the epitome of the U.S. remained dour in key Muslim countries. Meanwhile, certain U.S. actions under Obama, such every bit drone strikes, eavesdropping on foreign leaders and revelations of torture in the mail-ix/eleven period, were globally unpopular.

Americans, meanwhile, have go less sure of their place in the earth. The share of Americans who say it would be better if the U.Due south. just dealt with its ain problems and allow other countries bargain with their own as all-time they can has risen xi points since the spring of 2010.

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

About half of Americans say the U.Southward. is a less powerful and important world leader than information technology was a decade ago, though nigh still believe the U.S. is the world's leading economical and military machine ability.

How nosotros interact

Smartphones and social media

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

More than than two-thirds of Americans endemic 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 commencement term, a mere 3% of Americans owned tablets; nearly half had tablets by the terminate of 2015.

Although social media use was a signature aspect of Obama'south 2008 campaign, but i-third of Americans used social media that twelvemonth. With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other apps, social media apply climbed to about three-quarters of online adults by 2015.

Obama also helped conductor in the rise of digital video in politics, sharing his weekly accost through the White House YouTube channel. Past the terminate 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 likewise helped bring about profound changes in the U.Southward. media landscape. Americans today access data, go news and appoint with politicians in new and dissimilar means than in 2008 – a tendency underscored by the political success of Trump, whose frequent employ of Twitter to communicate directly with supporters (and detractors) was ane of the defining narratives of his campaign to succeed Obama.

In 2016, more U.South. adults learned nearly the presidential election through social media than through print newspapers. Younger Americans, in particular, were more likely to turn to social media rather than more than traditional platforms, with those ages 18 to 29 listing it every bit their "most helpful" source for election information in a Jan 2016 survey. (Cable Tv set, past contrast, remained amidst the most 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, six-in-ten Americans said they got their news through social media and 7-in-ten said they accessed information technology through a mobile device.

Print newspapers connected a long-term decline, with sharp cuts in newspaper staffing and a severe dip in average circulation. Newspaper editorial staff in the U.S. went from nearly 47,000 in 2008 to about 33,000 in 2014 – a thirty% drop, according to data from the American Guild 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 fourth dimension of twenty-four hour period. Between 2007 and 2015, boilerplate viewership for tardily-dark newscasts declined 22%, according to analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Overall, Americans remained extremely wary of the news media. In a 2016 survey, 7-in-ten adults said the media has a "negative event" on the way things are going in the U.S. today – the highest share of any nongovernmental institution polled. Nearly iii-quarters said in a separate survey that the news media are biased.

Simply for all the skepticism facing the media, Americans continued to value the watchdog functions of the press. Nigh 8-in-ten registered voters, for example, said it is the news media'due south responsibility to fact-bank check political candidates and campaigns. Three-in-four said that news organizations continue political leaders from doing things they shouldn't.

The future of the media is likely to be an even more than 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 period of "mail-truth politics."

Looking ahead

While the 2016 election may exist ane for the history books, looking ahead requires equal measures of caution and humility, particularly when it comes to politics and public policy.

Information technology remains to exist seen, for example, whether Donald Trump will button forrad on some of his highest-contour campaign priorities, such every bit constructing a wall on the U.South. edge with Mexico, 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 tin change significantly as general proposals move to concrete legislation.

Still, there are sure bigger trends we know are going to continue and others that bear witness no signs of reversing.

The technological changes that were such a authentication of Obama'due south eight years will go on, constantly reshaping the way we communicate, the way we travel, the way we shop and the way we piece of work, amid many other facets of everyday life. Americans seem to expect major changes: More than than six-in-x, for instance, believe that within l years, robots or computers will do much of the work that is currently done by humans.

The demographic changes that take taken hold beyond 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 go along: In less than twoscore years, the U.S. will not take a single racial or ethnic majority group, according to Pew Research Centre projections.

The U.S. has as well long been habitation to more immigrants than any other country in the world, and by 2065, ane-in-three Americans will be an immigrant or have immigrant parents, compared with about i-in-four today.

The nation's stark partisan fissures are probable to persist and may deepen. Only as Obama'south task approval ratings are deeply divided along partisan lines, the public's ratings for how Trump has handled his transition to the White House are more divided past political party than they were for contempo presidents-elect. A reality of American politics today is that one of the just things large numbers of Republicans and Democrats can agree on is that they tin't agree on basic facts.

The foreign policy challenges facing this politically fractured nation seem endless, from Russia and China to terrorism and the environment. At dwelling house, fiscal prosperity – even stability – feels increasingly out of reach to many Americans: Today, far more people are pessimistic than optimistic about life for the adjacent generation of Americans.

Yet the Us 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, but majorities in both parties say the U.Due south. is still the earth's leading military – and yes, economic – ability. And about Americans say that one of the hallmarks of U.S. gild – its racial and ethnic diversity – makes the country a better place to live.

It is tempting to believe that the pace of change in the U.S. has never been greater, or that 2016's ballot is of greater event than others. As significant every bit the current moment of transition is, nevertheless, only the passage of time can reveal the trends that will truly have lasting importance.

Note: The 2d paragraph of the "Who we are" department of this essay and its accompanying graphic were updated on May 21, 2018. The changes reflect the Centre'southward revised definition of the Millennial generation and the updated year in which Millennials go the largest generation in the U.Due south. and in the American electorate.

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