State of the Union poll: Americans’ sentiment shifts after Trump speech
· Yahoo NewsPresident Donald Trump’s State of the Union address garnered a positive response from a group of Americans polled by CNN, “though enthusiasm was lower than after his previous speeches.
According to a CNN survey conducted by SSRS Tuesday night, 64% of speech-watchers had a positive reaction to Trump’s record-long presidential address. Among that group, 38% were very positive and 25% were somewhat positive.
The audience for Trump’s speech was about 13% more Republican than the general public, according to CNN/SSRS respondent data.
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About one-third of speech-watchers, 36%, rated his address negatively.
Trump fared slightly better during his first term, with at least 70% of speech-watchers in 2017, 2018 and 2019 rating his address favorably.
The reaction to Trump’s 2026 State of the Union is comparable to the response former President Joe Biden received after his final address in 2024.
A CNN poll conducted after Biden’s speech found that 65% of Americans reacted positively, which was down from 72% and 71% following his 2022 and 2023 State of the Union addresses, respectively.
Positive reviews from speech-watchers are common for presidential addresses to Congress, which typically draw audiences that skew toward the president’s own party.
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In CNN’s reaction polls, conducted most years since the Clinton administration, viewers have consistently responded favorably.
Pre- and post-speech sentiment
Following the State of the Union address, according to the CNN/SSRS poll, there was an uptick in positive sentiment about the country’s direction and Trump’s priorities.
That tracked with findings from polls conducted after his previous State of the Union speeches.
The percentage of speech-watchers who believe Trump’s policies are moving the U.S. in the right direction rose to 64% after his 2026 address, an increase of 10 percentage points.
Trump saw similar boosts in speech-watchers’ approval for his administration’s policies during his first term:
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- 2019: 62% pre-speech; 71% post-speech
- 2018: 55% pre-speech; 62% post-speech
- 2017: 58% pre-speech; 69% post-speech
The audience for those speeches also skewed more Republican than the general public, according to CNN/SSRS respondent data.
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