President Donald J. Trump delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term Tuesday night — and a majority of viewers said they liked what they heard, Breitbart reports.
A CNN instant poll conducted immediately after the speech found that 64% of viewers believe Trump is moving the country in the right direction.
That marked a 10-point jump from before the address, when 54% of those watching said they felt Trump was leading the nation the right way — underscoring the impact of the president’s remarks.
The results also undercut criticism from within CNN itself.
Abby Phillip — a senior CNN political correspondent and anchor — dismissed several of Trump’s emotional moments during the speech, including awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, two Medals of Honor, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit, as “gameshow type moments.”
She suggested the president leaned on those segments because other parts of his message were a “hard pill for Americans to swallow.”
Viewers, however, appeared to disagree.
Trump also set a new modern record for the longest State of the Union address. He spoke for 108 minutes Tuesday night, surpassing the 100-minute joint address he delivered in 2025.
Before Trump, the longest State of the Union speech in the previous 25 years had been former President Bill Clinton’s 2000 address, which ran 89 minutes.
For supporters, the positive polling — even from CNN’s own audience — suggests the president’s message continues to resonate.
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