Poll: Obama's SOTU address receives deeply positive reviews

President Obama's final State of the Union address received "very positive" reviews from 53 percent of participants in a CNN/ORC instant poll conducted Tuesday.
The poll found that 20 percent of people who watched the speech had a somewhat positive reaction, while 25 percent had a negative reaction. When it came to Obama's proposed policies, 68 percent said they would move the United States in the right direction, while 29 percent said they would move the country in the wrong direction. Last year, 72 percent said his policies were heading in the right direction, the highest in his presidency.
Overall, 48 percent said Obama's presidency has fallen short of their expectations, 33 percent said it has met expectations, and 18 percent said it has exceeded expectations. When it comes to accomplishments, 68 percent said he has been successful with addressing climate change and 66 percent said he has been successful with the economy. On immigration, 52 percent said he has not been successful.
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Out of the 386 adult Americans surveyed, 42 percent considered themselves Democrats and 24 percent Republicans. The participants were originally interviewed during a random national sample conducted Jan. 5 to 11, and each said they planned to watch the State of the Union and could be interviewed again afterwards. The margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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