In a new poll from CNN/ORC, more than 75% of Americans reacted positively to Trump’s Tuesday night “Presidential” address to Congress. Among those who watched the speech, 57% said they had a “very positive” response, while another 21% described their reaction as “somewhat positive.”
President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress received largely positive reviews from viewers, with 57% who tuned in saying they had a very positive reaction to the speech, according to a new CNN/ORC poll of speech-watchers.
Nearly 7-in-10 who watched said the President’s proposed policies would move the country in the right direction and almost two-thirds said the president has the right priorities for the country. Overall, about 7-in-10 said the speech made them feel more optimistic about the direction of the country.
Ideologically, about two-thirds saw Trump’s speech as about right, while roughly on-quarter (26%) pegged it as too conservative. Just 8% said it wasn’t conservative enough.
On the issues, CNN says that Trump scored the highest ratings on the economy and terrorism.
On specific issues, Trump scored the highest marks for his proposed policies on the economy, with 72% saying those went in the right direction. Almost as many, 70%, said the same about his terrorism proposals. Slightly fewer, but still a majority, felt his policies on taxes (64%), immigration (62%) or health care (61%) were heading in the right direction.
And, of course, Sean Spicer quickly shared the poll from “fake news” CNN via Twitter.
In @cnn poll 78% of @POTUS #JointAddress watchers say positive, 69% say policies will move country in right direction, 69% more optimistic
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) March 1, 2017
But while the ratings were ‘yuge’ and ‘tremendous’, CNN also pointed out that they fell well below the 68% “very positive” reaction that President Obama received to his first joint session and 66% for former president George W. Bush.
While the 57% who said they had a very positive reaction to Trump’s speech outpaces the marks received by his predecessor for any of his recent State of the Union addresses, they fell below the reviews either Barack Obama or George W. Bush received for either of their initial addresses to Congress. In 2009, 68% had a very positive reaction to Obama, while 66% gave Bush very positive reviews in 2001. Likewise, the 69% of speech-watchers who thought Trump’s policies would move the nation in the right direction lagged behind the share who felt that way about Obama’s or Bush’s policies in the first year, and ranks around their low-marks on this score. Obama’s low-mark on that score was 68% last year and his high was 88% in 2009. Bush topped out at 91% in 2002 and hit a low mark of 67% in the final year of his presidency.
Meanwhile, in a shocking first for the king of Democrat “oversamples”, CNN said their poll included 509 Americans who watched Trump’s speech, including an 8-point sampling advantage for Republicans.
