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Appalachian Reacts to State of the Union Address |
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Tuesday, 30 January 2007 |
TREVA CARTER
Intern Lifestyles
An instant CNN/USA Today/Gallup opinion poll of people who watched the State of the Union Address found that more than half reacted positively to it.
In 2002, about three-quarters of the viewers reacted favorably, while this year 48 percent agreed with President George W. Bush’s speech.
Nonetheless,
45.5 million people viewed the Jan. 23 broadcast. The number of viewers
showed a 9 percent increase since the 2006 address.
Graham P. Shaw, a sophomore criminal justice major, said he did not watch the speech, but had a good idea of what was said.
“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, I didn’t feel the need to watch,”
Shaw said. “Basically you had the whole speech read to you before you
even heard Bush actually speak.”
Many students did not feel the need to watch the broadcast because they
had heard many of the basic issues from Bush’s speech discussed through
talk radio shows.
“He’s mainly saying what others want him to say,” William N. Casey IV,
a junior music industry studies major, said. “It’s hard to trust what
comes out his mouth.”
Casey said the only reason why he watched the speech was because his
friend did not have cable and the speech was on every channel.
If I had a cable connection available, I wouldn’t have watched the speech, Casey said.
B. Zachary Levin, a junior accounting major, recently returned from four and a half months studing abroad in Austria.
“I became angry when I finally heard the State of the Union Address,”
Levin said. “Nothing has changed. I believe the situation has grown
volatile.”
Frederick T. McKaig, a junior sociology major and president of the
Appalachian College Republicans, said some of the issues Bush
confronted in the speech needed to see a change.
“I am glad he brought up fixing health care. If businesses get tax
breaks, someone who buys their own should get the same breaks,” McKaig
said. “Most people think that this is a Democratic issue, which it is
actually an issue for everyone.”
Casey said Bush should have also focused more on issues going on in the United States.
“He should have brought up putting taxes on the rich,” Casey said. “Even the middle to lower class – they’re losing jobs now.”
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