Trump gets high marks for his first State of the Union address in snap polls

Trump got middling scores on his SOTU speech

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

last updated 31 January 2018

Two polls taken right after President Trump's first State of the Union address Tuesday night found that a majority of viewers had a positive reaction to the speech. In a CBS News poll, 75 percent of respondents approved of Trump's speech while 25 percent disapproved, while CNN's poll found that 48 percent had a "very positive" impression of the speech, 22 percent had a "somewhat positive" reaction, and 29 percent had a negative response. As with every State of the Union address, the president's supporters watched the speech in disproportionately high numbers relative to the U.S. electorate as a whole.

In the CBS News poll, for example, 52 percent of the 1,178 people surveyed said they were Trump supporters, 32 percent identified as Trump opponents, and 16 percent said they were something in between. Trump should be pleased that 70 percent of viewers had at least a somewhat positive reaction to his speech, CNN's David Chalian said, but that's still the lowest net approval rating for a State of the Union address since CNN started asking in 1998. Former President Barack Obama, who also got 48 percent strong approval for his first State of the Union speech, nevertheless scored a 78 percent net positive score.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.