Poll: State of the Union Earned Positive Reviews — But Many Viewers Doubt Trump Will Cut Cost of Living

A CNN/SSRS poll of viewers found that President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address drew generally favorable reactions from those who watched it, yet sizable shares remained unconvinced he will lower the cost of living or is prioritizing the nation’s top problems.

Key Findings From Viewers

Nearly two-thirds of viewers reported at least a somewhat positive reaction to the speech, with 38% describing their response as very positive. That overall reception is slightly cooler than the response to his address last year and below the ratings Trump received for early first-term addresses in CNN polling.

The group that tuned in on Tuesday skewed about 13 percentage points more Republican than the general public — a pattern typical for presidential addresses to Congress, which often attract audiences that favor the incumbent’s party.

Shifts In Opinion

The speech appeared to strengthen support among some viewers: in a before-and-after survey of the same people, 54% initially said Trump’s policies would move the country in the right direction; that rose to 64% after the address. The share who said Trump had the right priorities increased from 44% pre-speech to 54% immediately afterward.

Economy and cost of living were the top concerns for viewers heading into the speech. Despite that focus, 45% of viewers said Trump devoted too little time to the cost-of-living issue, while 53% said he gave it the right amount of attention. Confidence that he can make living costs more affordable was limited: 31% said they had a lot of confidence, 29% had some confidence, and 40% had no confidence.

Other Issues

Viewers were split on Trump’s use of tariffs — roughly even between those who saw them as an appropriate tool and those who viewed them as an overreach. After the speech, 62% of viewers said Trump’s economic policies would move the country in the right direction; the same share said the same about his immigration policies. The immigration rating represents an erosion from his stronger first-term standing on that issue.

Among the minority unhappy with his emphasis on immigration, more said he paid too much attention to the issue (38%) than said he paid too little (6%).

Leadership And National Security

On leadership and national security, 45% of speech-watchers expressed a lot of confidence in Trump to provide real leadership for the country. Forty-three percent said they had a lot of confidence in him to use U.S. military power responsibly, and 38% were highly confident in his ability to make the right decisions about Iran.

Context And Methodology

Historically, State of the Union addresses can shape perceptions but rarely produce large shifts in presidential approval among the broader public. In a separate CNN poll of the general public taken just before the address, Trump’s overall approval rating was 36%.

The CNN/SSRS viewer poll was conducted via text message with 482 U.S. adults who said they watched the presidential address. Respondents were recruited before the speech and selected from the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability-based sampling methods. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of speech-watchers is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.

Bottom line: The address improved some viewers’ views of Trump’s priorities and direction, but many remain skeptical he can make the cost of living more affordable.