CNN poll: More than 6 in 10 SOTU viewers responded positively to Biden's speech

CNN
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According to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS, more than 6 in 10 Americans who watched President Joe Biden's State of the Union address responded positively to the speech, indicating a very positive reaction. was even lower at 35%.

The widespread but moderated positivity reflects the reception of Biden's speech so far. Last year, 72% of viewers responded positively to her, with 34% of them saying it was very positive. This was the lowest “very positive” number in her CNN poll dating back to 1998. In 2022, 71% responded positively and 41% responded positively. The reaction was very positive.

As in the past two years, Democratic speech watchers' reactions to Biden were almost universally positive, with about two-thirds of the independents who watched giving a positive reaction. About three-quarters of Republicans who watched this year's speech gave it a negative rating, up from about 6 in 10 for Biden's previous two State of the Union addresses.

Americans who tuned in Thursday said by 62% to 38% that the policies proposed by Biden would move the country in the right direction rather than the wrong direction. A poll taken before the speech found that only 45% of people said Biden's policies would lead the country in the right direction.

Just over 6 in 10 Americans who watched the show expressed at least some confidence in Biden to protect American democracy, and 59% expressed confidence in Biden's overall ability to carry out his duties as president. Respondents said they had at least some level of trust. Thirty-six percent of those who watched the speech said they had a great deal of confidence in Biden to protect American democracy, 27% expressed some confidence, and 37% had no true confidence in Biden. said.

After the speech, 31% of viewers said they had a great deal of confidence in Biden's ability to carry out his duties as president, 28% said they had some confidence, and 41% said they had no real confidence. This number is up slightly from a survey conducted a few days before the speech, where 25% of those surveyed were very confident in his abilities and 27% were somewhat confident. 48% said they were not at all confident.

Much of the improvement in Biden's score occurred among political independents who watched the speech. Before the speech, 51% of independents expressed at least some confidence in Biden's ability to do his job, but that rose to 68% after the speech. The perception that Mr. Biden is capable of carrying out the duties of the president did not differ significantly between Democrats and Republicans who watched the show.

Presidents' speeches to Congress typically receive positive reviews from speech watchers, and generally tend to attract friendly audiences disproportionately comprised of members of their own party. In his CNN speech reaction polls dating back to the Clinton era, audience reactions were consistently positive. But the State of the Union address rarely changes a president's support among a broad swath of Americans, especially in recent years.

A majority of Americans who watched the speech said Biden's economic policies would move the country in the right direction, while 44% said his policies would move things in the wrong direction. That's because a poll conducted before the speech found that 55% of people said Biden's economic proposals would move things in the wrong direction, with much of that sentiment coming from independents. 41% improved as they were moving in the right direction. The public opinion poll after the speech was 61%. But after last year's State of the Union address, more than 66% of those who watched the speech said Biden's economic policies would move the country in the right direction. In 2022, that percentage was 62%.

Nearly half (53%) of Americans who watched the speech said that Biden's immigration policies will lead the country in the right direction, up from 42% in a pre-speech poll. Here, the pre- to post-speech change included changes among both Democrats (71% to 83% to the right) and Independents (42% to 56%).

According to a CNN poll of speech watchers conducted by SSRS, nearly half of State of the Union viewers, 52%, said that Biden's policy proposals supporting abortion rights were the way they should be. Another 29% said his policies went too far, and 19% said they didn't go far enough.

Roughly half of speech watchers, 53%, said the level of U.S. aid Biden is proposing to Israel is about appropriate, while 28% said Biden is proposing too much, and 20% said it's not enough. I answered. Similarly, 49% of viewers said that the level of U.S. aid proposed by Biden to Ukraine is about right, 34% said that the level of aid that Biden is proposing to Ukraine is too much, and 16% said that it is not enough. I answered no.

Forty-two percent of speech viewers under 45 said Biden's proposal was too pro-Israel, a view shared by just 22% of those over 45. The age differences in Biden's proposed level of aid to Ukraine are more modest.

The CNN poll was conducted via text message among 529 U.S. adults who said they watched Thursday's State of the Union address, and represents only the views of those who watched the speech. Respondents were recruited to participate prior to the speech and were selected through a survey of members of her SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability-based sampling techniques. Results for the full sample of voice observers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.