Viewers who once supported president have moved to opposite ends of political spectrum, some backing Bernie Sanders as others turn to Donald Trump

Former Obama voters on his final State of the Union: too little, too late

In his final State of the Union address, which focused predominantly on the future of the United States, Barack Obama promised to fight for equal pay and higher wages and touted the more than 14m jobs added over the last six years of his presidency.

Obama had been speaking for almost 45 minutes before launching into the final stretch of his speech, but Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson were not impressed.

“I don’t want another career politician. They are all talk and no action,” said Diamond.

Diamond and Silk, both former Democrats, had voted for Obama in both 2008 and 2012. But by 2015, they’d had enough.



Today, Diamond and Silk are Republicans. And they are voting for Trump.

Many Americans – especially those with low incomes and Americans of color like Diamond and Silk – have yet to feel the effects of the US economic recovery. As a result, they have turned to candidates at opposite ends of the US political spectrum in hopes of having their own shot at reaching the middle class.

Trump’s promises to “make American great again” and bring jobs back home have struck a cord with frustrated Americans like Silk and Diamond. But so have Bernie Sanders’s vows to reform Wall Street and raise wages.

Obama’s State of the Union address was also found lacking in New York, where two Bernie Sanders volunteers watched the presidential speech. Moumita Ahmed, 25, and Caleb-Michael Files, 24, have both previously voted for Obama, but felt his speech addressed few of the issues facing young Americans, including police brutality, high housing costs and crippling student debt.



With presidential elections fast approaching, former Obama supporters have turned to both leftwing Sanders and rightwing Trump, hoping that those candidates would finish what Obama began and bring economic recovery to their communities.





‘That’s why we are Trump supporters’

Focusing on the positives, Obama pointed to the 14.1m jobs created in the US over the last 70 months and the five-percentage-point drop in unemployment since its peak of 10% in 2009.

Diamond and Silk, who are from Raeford, North Carolina, said that they see little of that in their communities. Instead, they see people who are still unable to save, are not earning good wages and have few to no opportunities to move into the middle class.

“It’s eight years too late! We are happy to see him leave,” Diamond said of Obama as the State of the Union was winding down. “He ran on hope and change. Now, people are walking around with no hope and they don’t even have enough change to buy them a loaf of bread. It’s too late! Bring somebody in that can fix this system. And I think Donald Trump can.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump meets Diamond and Silk.

As a businessman, Donald Trump would know how to handle the economy, said Diamond. He would work for the people.

“When we look at Donald Trump, he is the only one that’s being for [the] American worker,” said Diamond. “He is concerned about the American workers, the American people. And all we want is: put people first. We want a government that works for the people, not against the people. That’s why we are Trump supporters.”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The State Of The Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time. New leadership fast!

‘Bernie Sanders is our only hope’

A longtime Obama supporter, Caleb-Michael Files said he expected a lot more from the State of the Union speech “than what was offered”.

“This is Obama’s last year in office. He could have gone in with guns blazing and really push for what he wanted,” he said. Files expected Obama to be more forceful on police brutality as well as the high cost of college education.

“We have to make college affordable for every American. Because no hardworking student should be stuck in the red,” Obama said on Tuesday. “We’ve already reduced student loan payments to 10% of a borrower’s income. Now, we’ve actually got to cut the cost of college.”

Files is one of those Americans who qualifies for the reduced-payment program. However, he says, he is paying so little every month that he is not even covering the interest accruing on his loans – and he can’t afford to pay more.

“I have two bachelor degrees and am $42,000 in debt,” he said. Files volunteered for Obama in 2008, when he was too young to vote, and then again in 2012. This year, Files hopes to vote for Bernie Sanders, who has proposed taxing the rich to help make college more affordable.

“I voted for Obama because I saw a better country four years down the road. Now, my view on that has shifted to Bernie,” said Files. “He is our only hope.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bernie Sanders applauds during Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

‘They’re angry’

Sanders is not blind to the frustrations of young Americans nor the working class. In fact, the Vermont senator recently pointed out that the reason Trump has been able to gain the support of so many Americans is because he appeals to the frustrated working class.

“Many of Trump’s supporters are working-class people, and they’re angry. They’re angry because they’re working longer hours for lower wages. They’re angry because their jobs have left this country and gone to China or other low-wage countries. They’re angry because they can’t afford to send their kids to college so they can’t retire with dignity,” he said in December.

After Sanders criticism, Donald Trump flip-flops: US wages 'are too low' Read more

Sanders added that he could win over those frustrated Americans with his economic policies.

Despite being at the opposite ends of the US political spectrum, the two candidates appeal to many disillusioned former Obama voters. For Bernie Sanders, those voters are often millennials.

A recent USA Today/Rock the Vote poll found that despite being the oldest candidate in the 2016 presidential race, Sanders was the leading candidate among millennial Democrats and independents. At 46%, he also beat out the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who has been actively courting that demographic. She came in at 35%.

“Bernie always, always, always talks about tuition and young people,” said Moumita Ahmed, a 25-year-old lead organizer for Millennials for Bernie Sanders, who was watching the speech with Files.

Considering that Obama’s speech was supposed to be about the future, he barely addressed the issues young people are struggling with such as student debt and high youth unemployment among black Americans, she said.

“He didn’t really focus on young people at all.”