Most viewers (60%) who tuned into President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday had a positive reaction to his speech, according to poll results released Friday by CNN.
“I believe in you the American people,” said Biden as he closed out the speech. You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future! So let’s build that future together! Let’s remember who we are! We are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together!”
Along with a positive reaction, CNN found that viewers confidence in Biden in some key areas improved after the speech. During the address, the president covered a range of issues, from reproductive rights and high prescription drug costs to the Israel-Hamas war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
CNN conducted the poll text message and it included responses from 529 U.S. adults. While just 45% of people in a survey conducted before the speech said that Biden’s policies would move the nation in the right direction, 62% of respondents said his policies would move the nation in the right direction after watching the SOTU.
Independent voter opinions also appeared to improve after the address.
“Before the speech, 51% of independents expressed at least some confidence in Biden’s ability to carry out his duties, and that rose to 68% among the same group of independents after the speech,” said CNN. “Perceptions of Biden’s ability to carry out the duties of the presidency did not change significantly among either Democrats or Republicans who tuned in.”
Emerson College poll results released Thursday found that Biden and the GOP 2024 presidential nominee frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, were neck-and-neck at 45% in a hypothetical 2024 matchup. That poll also found that 63% of voters who supported former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley (Trump’s lone challenger until she dropped out following Super Tuesday primaries) in the primary elections would vote for Biden in the general election.
Earlier this week, Wall Street Journal poll results indicated that Trump has a slight edge on Biden at 47% compared to 45%.
“Only the Radical Left lunatics are trying to make the best of it. It took him 41 minutes to talk, briefly, about Immigration and the Border, on the topic of which he was very weak,” said Trump in a Truth Social post after the SOTU. “No talk of weaponization against his very calm and nice opponent. Angry as hell, this guy is a PSYCHO!”
According to the CNN poll results, Democratic viewers did have an almost universally positive reaction to Biden’s speech, along with two-thirds of independents. Around three-quarters of Republicans had a negative reaction.
Here are some other key findings: 53% of viewers said that the level of U.S. support Biden proposes offering to Israel is about right, 49% said Biden’s proposed levels of U.S. aid for Ukraine are about right, 52%, said that Biden’s proposed policies supporting abortion rights are about what they should be, 56% said that Biden’s economic policies will move the U.S. in the right direction, and 53% said that the president’s immigration policies will move the U.S, in the right direction, up from 42% in the pre-speech survey.
While the majority who tuned in had a positive reaction, it was down slightly compared to some of Biden’s previous State of the Union speeches.
“Good marks from speech-watchers are typical for presidential addresses to Congress, which tend to attract generally friendly audiences that disproportionately hail from their own party,” CNN explained. “In CNN speech reaction polls dating back to the Clinton era, audience reactions have always been positive. But State of the Union addresses rarely lead to significant shifts in presidential approval among the broader American public, particularly in recent years.”