The numbers are in, and they're not pretty: President Barack Obama's State of the Union ratings from earlier this week were the lowest of all four of his annual addresses to the nation.

The decline is remarkable given it's an election year and his renewed call for passage of the controversial Buffett Rule, a new tax on millionaires.

Fewer than 37.8 million Americans tuned into the prime-time address, which was broadcast on 14 networks, according to Nielsen, which provides detailed analysis of consumer viewing behavior and demographics. That's down 13 percent from his State of the Union address a year earlier. About 26.6 million households, or fewer than 1 in 4, watched Obama talk about the state of the nation.

So how do Obama's State of the Union ratings stack up against former President George W. Bush's? Former President Bill Clinton's? Read more ...

(Photo: President Barack Obama delivers his 2012 State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Jan. 24, 2012. Credit: Getty Images News)

President Barack Obama used his 2012 State of the Union address to make a second appeal for Congress to pass a so-called Buffett Rule on wealthy Americans.  The idea is to raise taxes on anyone earning more than $1 million a year who pays a smaller portion of their earnings to the government than do middle-class workers.

"Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary," Obama told a joint session of Congress.

Specifically, the president is proposing to tax millionaires 30 percent of their earnings.

"Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires," Obama said. "In fact, if you're earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn't get special tax subsidies or deductions."

So how would the Buffett Rule really work? How many people would it affect?

Read more ...

(Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images)

President Barack Obama delivers the fourth State of the Union address of his presidency at 9 tonight. If you own a television set, it will be almost impossible to avoid.

All the major networks - ABC, CBS, NBC - will carry the annual policy speech before a joint session of Congress, and for good reason. The State of the Union is no ordinary speech. It is the political event of the year. And in an election year, it is unmatched in its import.

So how many people will actually watch?

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It's official. Nobody likes SOPA, at least not outside of Hollywood and the recording industry.

Each of the leading presidential candidates has come out against the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and its companion Protect IP Act in recent days, including President Barack Obama and his administration.

Obama and the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, in varying degrees, say the legislation would infringe on freedom of expression and undermine a free Internet. Their opposition signaled a substantial erosion of support for PIPA and SOPA, which have since been shelved.

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