By Susan Duclos
Gallup reports that only 38 percent of Americans watched Obama's second inauguration, down 22 percentage points from the 60 percent of those that watched his first in 2009. Combined with the 27 percent that said they saw, read, or heard news coverage of Obama's second inauguration, just 65 percent of Americans watched or paid attention to his 2013 event.
George Bush's second inauguration in 2005 brought 40 percent viewership and 33 percent saw, read, or heard news coverage of the event, giving him not only more viewers but a combined total of viewership and news coverage attention to 73 percent, 8 percentage points more than Obama's second event.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (56%) were more than twice as likely as Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (26%) to report watching Monday's inauguration ceremonies as they happened. Viewership among both party groups was down from 2009, when 70% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans reported watching the events as they occurred.Not only did more Republicans and Republican leaning Independents simply tune out, bring the number who watched down to nearly half but 14 percent less Democrats and Democratic leaning Independents tuned out as well.
Another finding was that fewer Americans said the inauguration made them more hopeful about the next four years than did so in 2009.
Specifically, 37% of Americans said they are now more hopeful about the next four years after Monday's presidential inauguration ceremonies, compared with 62% after Obama's first inauguration.
All in all, as divided as the country became by the end of George Bush's second term, Barack Obama's first term has divided the country even more and his inauguration speech which has been called too partisan by some observers, did nothing to heal that divide.