The ratings are in, and 45.6 million people watched Trump's first State of the Union

Donald Trump during the State of the Union address.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 2 February 2018

As a former reality TV star, President Trump has always been about the ratings, and he should be pretty happy with the number of people who tuned in to his first State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Nielsen estimates that 45.6 million viewers watched the State of the Union on 12 broadcast and cable networks, well above the number of people who watched his inauguration (30.6 million). That number is down 2 million from his address to the joint sessions of Congress last year, and also not as high as former President Barack Obama's first address to the joint sessions of Congress and SOTU — he had 52.4 million viewers in 2009 and 48 million in 2010.

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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.