Two Polls Give US President Trump High Marks for His Speech Before Congress
A CBS News/You Gov poll found more than three-fourths of those who viewed the televised speech approved of it, while 82 percent thought it was "presidential." Seventy-six percent of the viewers felt the address was "unifying," including 36 percent of those who identified as Democrats.
The speech made about 70 percent of the viewers feel more hopeful about the country's future, according to poll conducted by CNN/ORC. Almost two-thirds believed the president had set the right priorities. Fifty-seven percent had a "very positive" reaction to the address, although CNN also noted that former U.S. presidents Barack Obama (68 percent) and George W. Bush (66 percent) received higher marks after their first speeches to Congress.
The CBS News/You Gov poll found that 61 percent of the respondents felt more optimistic about what Trump would do after the speech, although the address lacked specifics about his policy proposals.
Seventy percent of the respondents favored Trump's plans on illegal immigration and over three-fourths supported his plans to strengthen the economy. Seventy-eight percent applauded the president's infrastructure initiative while 65 percent approved of his plans for the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Both polls questioned respondents who were initially contacted earlier and said they planned to watch the speech. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents to the CBS News/You Gov poll identified as Republicans while 23 percent said they were Democrats. Thirty-three of the speech-watchers surveyed by CNN/ORG said they were Republicans, with only 23 percent identifying as Democrats.
The CBS News/You Gov poll had a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points while the CNN/ORG survey's was 4.5 percentage points.