SER National is marking Presidents’ Day 2023 as a time when Americans are reported to be increasingly focused on what our country needs today to enhance our quality of life. Equally significant is how the men and women polled nationally say we each can contribute to the solutions addressing these needs beginning with where we live, work, and spend our leisure time.
“The service-centered life of President Washington is being echoed this holiday in a recent Gallup poll,” says Ignacio Salazar, SER National Chief Executive Officer. “The survey asked people across the country about their goals for America in 2023. Interestingly, their answers mirrored some of the things President Washington cared about as our first leader more than 234 years ago. The majority who responded listed our government’s health as their top priority. Also, we care deeply about the state of our economy and how to improve it for everyone’s benefit. Of course, this includes good jobs, what President Washington called ‘useful and noble employment,’ especially in service to others,” says Salazar.
The poll measured public sentiments over three weeks at the start of 2023 (January 2-22). Other issues among this year’s top priorities include unifying our country and tackling poverty, hunger, and homelessness, addressing immigration, crime, race relations, morals, ethics, and family shifts. Gallup researchers report a marked difference in proposed solutions depending on the political party affiliation of the Americans they interviewed.
“President Washington shouldered many of these social burdens without the benefit of the modern-day resources we enjoy,” says Salazar. “Communication took days or weeks. Also, national infrastructure was still being developed to establish agencies, programs, and policies to carry out the needed work. Today, SER Jobs for Progress National and our SER Network of Affiliates are empowering Americans with much of what they require regarding information, capacity building, and program execution skills, all available at their fingertips. Our training is now expanding into virtual digital networks and artificial intelligence. We are teaching men and women daily at the level it took a generation ago for space exploration. Indeed, we are limited only by our imagination. Just like President Washington, we can envision our country now and into the future being better by what each of us does today,” said Salazar.