On Tuesday, viewers on television and the Internet had the opportunity to hear directly from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and President Barack Obama as the two leaders detailed accomplishments and priorities moving forward in separate addresses.

Unfortunately, very few people watched.

Viewership for Obama’s State of the Union address reached a historic low. Time reported 31.7 million people watched Tuesday’s address, down from 2014, when 33 million people tuned in to see the president’s big speech.

U.S. News and World Report said the 2014 Obama speech reached the fewest number of viewers since the year 2000 when then President Bill Clinton gave his final address.

So, in a country of 316 million people, only 10 percent watched Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

We understand many people are generally fed up with Washington, D.C. gridlock and are apathetic about Congress.

In December, a national poll by Rasmussen Reports found only 7 percent of likely voters rated Congressional performance as excellent or good, with 67 percent of those polled rating the legislative body’s performance as poor.

The same Rasmussen poll found that 66 percent of those surveyed felt most members of Congress didn’t care what they think and only 24 percent polled thought their representative in Congress was the best person for the job.

Few polled think the new Republican-controlled Congress now in office will fare much better.

Especially with a presidential election year on the horizon in 2016 – and positioning by both parties already well under way – many people think the gridlock will remain as bad as it has been, or may even get worse – a scenario hard to imagine.

We know that despite a recent rebound, Obama’s popularity has also suffered with the public and, after his six years in office, presidential fatigue may have set into the minds of viewers. Given these factors, an address by Obama to Congress might inherently rate low.

However, without another election to face, Obama provided a spirited populist speech focused on improving middle class economics into the future – a theme that would at least on its face seem to be of vital interest to Upper Peninsula residents.

We also understand feelings expressed by many voters across the country of helplessness, frustration and disillusionment – thinking that their vote doesn’t matter.

However, if things are going to change for the better, we think an essential step to citizens becoming involved to effect that change is becoming informed. One way to get some understanding of where we are now and where we are heading as a state or a country would have been to watch Obama’s roughly one-hour State of the Union address and Snyder’s 45-minute State of the State speech.

Televised on Michigan Public Television stations, the State of the State address is also traditionally a low viewership event. Tuesday, few watched to see Snyder – recovering from a torn achilles tendon and leaning against a small cart throughout the speech – excitedly deliver his vision for getting more of Michigan’s poor residents into what he calls the “River of Opportunity.”

We think this is another development U.P. residents would want to know about.

Both Democrat Obama and Republican Snyder urged support for tax increases, yet another issue we think citizens of this region, state and country would be keen on hearing about.

On the morning after the speeches, Mining Journal reporters could find few in the local area who had watched either address. This was disappointing.

We think the presidential and gubernatorial speeches are important and we hope more people will go back to view them or learn about them online and will watch for the annual ritual next year, with more interest, when both leaders will again return to the podium.