Both of those are true. What’s additionally true is that State of the Union speeches virtually all the time obtain strongly favorable views, partly as a result of viewership tends to attract disproportionately from their allies.

The 65 % who had a optimistic view of the speech was truly decrease than any such speech CNN has polled up to now quarter-century — the earlier low being Donald Trump’s 2018 deal with (70 %).

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The 35 % who gave a “very” optimistic assessment successfully tied with final yr’s ranking (34 %) for the bottom on report. Following carefully had been Biden’s 2022 speech and George W. Bush’s 2007 speech, every receiving “very” optimistic marks from 41 % of viewers.

“The 17-point shift toward the country moving in the ‘right direction’ was also unremarkable, historically speaking. Dating back to Bill Clinton’s 1998 State of the Union address, viewers have shifted an average of 15 points toward that more optimistic view,” Blake wrote.

“Now we get to the caveat, and that’s that viewers Thursday were less aligned with the president than your average State of the Union audience — potentially because we’re in a campaign year or because questions about Biden’s ability to perform drew in more people who were skeptical of him,” he continued. “That appears to explain at least part of the poorer-than-normal reviews — but not all.”