Key findings:
- A third of Americans tuned in to President Biden’s first State of the Union Address
- SOTU viewers wanted to hear more on the economy
- Republicans heavily criticize Biden’s address: “lies, “poor,” “weak” top words used
- Democrats describe the speech as “excellent,” hopeful”, “strong”
A third tune into Biden’s first SOTU
A third (34%) of Americans tuned in to President Biden’s first State of the Union Address, while 32% chose not to watch or follow coverage of the address. Another 32% didn’t watch but followed coverage of the address in the news.
- 40% of Democrats watched vs. 35% of Republicans and 22% of independents
- 49% of those 65+ watched vs. 21% of those 18-34 and 35% of those 35-64
Over half (53%) skipped Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Republican response – only 22% tuned in while 23% didn’t watch but followed coverage in the news.
- 29% of Republicans tuned in vs. 20% of Democrats and 13% of independents
- 29% of those 65+ watched vs. 17% of those 18-34 and 23% of those 35-64
SOTU viewers wanted to hear more about the economy
Biden receives mostly supportive reviews from SOTU viewers, with more than half saying he gave about the right amount of attention to health care, policing, Russia/Ukraine, the Supreme Court, and COVID-19.
“The economy” was the issue that viewers most wanted to hear more about; 43% of SOTU viewers said it didn’t get enough attention.
Republicans give harsh criticism, while Democrats praise
Most of those who tuned in had positive things to say about Biden’s first SOTU. Top words used to describe the speech were: “hopeful”, “excellent”, “poor”, “lies”, “weak”, “strong”, “fair”, “great” “honest” and “inspiring”.
- The top word used among Republicans was “lies,” followed by “poor”, “weak”, “terrible”, “good”, “muddled”, “interesting”, “uninspiring”, “lost”, “lackluster” and “fair”
- The top word used among Democrats was “excellent,” followed by “hopeful”, “strong”, “great”, “honest”, “inspirational”, “positive”, “unifying”, “awesome”, “terrible” and “disappointed”
- The top word used among independents was “hopeful”
Among all:
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
