What voters think about the State of the Union
CBS News' digital political journalists fanned out across the country (but mostly in Iowa, where 2016 candidates are hunkering down) to find out just what voters think about the State of the Union ahead of President Obama's annual address to Congress.
For many -- especially those who turned out to see the Republican candidates -- the picture is grim.
"It's the worst in the history of America," said Donald Murphy, an independent from Mt. Vernon, New Hampshire.
"I think the union is a hot mess," said Rebecca Meeke, who attended a Ben Carson town hall in Bettendorf, Iowa. "We need to figure out a way to fix not just the economy and keep jobs here, we need to figure out a way to finish this war with ISIS and get our girls and boys home."
"I consider it pretty poor right at the moment, with all the threats against the nation. And the world. I don't feel our president is acting according to the threats we're having," Ernie Lewis said in Goldfield, Iowa after seeing Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speak.
Rebecca Morgan, who went to an event for Sen. Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida, said, "this is the weakest America has been."
"I think we are avoiding the issues and national security is one of them, I think that our country is very vulnerable and I am not happy with the way things are going," she said.
But Democrats are more inclined to think the country is in good shape.
"I think Obama has done a tremendous job on making our country much better than it was eight years ago," said Kara Leahy from Waterloo, Iowa, who is planning to caucus for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"I'm really sorry he only has one year left, little less than a year. I think he has faced more problems than a lot of the other Presidents and I think it's a good move on his part to try to get gun control handled."
She was referring to the president's executive actions announced last week to try to reduce gun violence.
Rhonda Shouse, who lives in Marion, Iowa, and supports Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, also referenced the actions the president took on guns.
"I am actually very happy with the exec action that he took on gun control. I don't think it is going to make as much as a difference as we hope to but it is a start," she said.
Shouse said she hopes to hear Mr. Obama talk about what he is going to do to help during the last year of his presidency.
"I do not think he is a lame duck. And if Congress is not going to act then he needs to do things like take executive action," she said.
Supporters of businessman Donald Trump echoed their favorite candidate in saying that the president has not led the country from a position of strength.
"I believe our country is perceived as weak. Our economy is fragile," said Kyle Rodefer from Fort Mill, South Carolian. "Red blooded Americans like you and I - blue collar workers - I don't think they've been getting a fair shake. They're very frustrated at what's been going on."
Pedro Montez from Ridley, California, said the state of the union is "not strong."
"We have a weak president. You know, I respect President Obama but he's a weak, he's a weak leader. We need somebody who knows how to cut deals," he said.
Many people are not that excited about watching.
"There was once a time when the president would just send a letter to Congress and the speaker of the house would read it. It's become a side show. The truth is it's really not important," Murphy, the New Hampshire independent, said.
"I will probably end up watching the news clips about it but I am not going to probably spend an hour in front of the TV watching the state of the union," said Florida voter John Vallese at Rubio's event in Sarasota. "You know, we have pretty much heard it all from this president over the last seven and a half years or so."
CBS News Digital Political Journalists Hannah Fraser-Chanpong, Sopan Deb, Alan He, Sean Gallitz, Erica Brown, Kylie Atwood and Jacqueline Alemany contributed to this story.