President Trump hit another new low, this time with his State of the Union address.
Whilst the 79-year-old did manage to stay on the affordability message for a time, Tuesday’s speech did eventually become the Trump show as it descended into a screaming match when the president embarked on an angry, racist tirade over illegal immigrants and alleged fraud.
And while this appeared to slightly satiate his base, with 38 percent holding a “very positive” view (36 percent rated it negative), it stacks up poorly against other presidents and Trump’s other SOTU addresses.
In 2022, Trump’s nemesis Joe Biden’s address drew a “very positive” result of 41 percent, while Obama’s 2010 and Trump’s 2018 addresses both reached 48 percent.
George W. Bush’s 2002 speech remains way out in front at 74 percent. “Donald Trump is at the bottom of this. Even among fans of the president who tuned in tonight, you’re seeing his broader trouble in the polls. He’s at a low point,” CNN’s political director David Chalian warned.
Trump has given four previous SOTU addresses, all of which polled higher than Tuesday’s. In 2025, he garnered 44 percent positivity, in 2019 it was 59 percent, in 2018 it was 48 percent and in 2017 he raked in 57 percent.
The numbers tell a bleak story for Trump, who is also polling badly generally with the midterms fast approaching. The New York Times tracks the president’s daily average of polls conducted by dozens of different organizations since Inauguration Day. As of Wednesday morning, he sits at 56 percent disapproval and a lowly 41 percent approval rating.
But none of this matters, apparently. “The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded in a statement.
Some 36 percent rated the address negatively. When compared to the 38 percent who viewed it glowingly, that constitutes an unusually narrow gap for a SOTU address. 63 percent offered a somewhat positive view, but barely four in 10 felt strongly positive.
“The same CNN polling showed 64 percent of speech-watchers felt the country is headed in the right direction. The interns working for the failing Daily Beast should stop sniffing glue and read the full poll before writing another moronic story,” the White House’s Ingle responded.
