President Donald Trump’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech on Tuesday was the least popular this century, according to a new snap poll.
A CNN survey found that Trump’s latest SOTU address drew the weakest reaction of any modern address, with positive reactions even sliding across his two terms.
But CNN’s political director David Chalian warned: “This is a poll of speech watchers. So it is not a poll that is reflective of the population overall… What we know about people who tune into SOTU addresses is that they tend to be fans of whichever president is giving the speech.”
He added: “The polling universe here is about 13 points more Republican than the overall population.”
Chalian said that a majority of viewers reacted positively overall, but enthusiasm was thin. Just 38 percent called the speech “very positive,” while 36 percent rated it negative—an unusually narrow gap for a SOTU address.
While 63 percent offered at least a somewhat positive view, barely four in 10 felt strongly positive.
The trend is also moving in the wrong direction for Trump. His “very positive” score has fallen steadily from his previous addresses—down from 44 percent in 2025, and far below peaks in his first term, including 59 percent in 2019 and 57 percent in 2017.
How Trump’s SOTU Compares With Previous Presidents
Trump’s latest snap results lag former presidents. In 2022, President Joe Biden’s speech drew a “very positive” result of 41 percent, while Obama’s 2010 and Trump’s 2018 addresses both reached 48 percent. Meanwhile, George W. Bush’s 2002 speech remains the high-water mark at 74 percent.
As with all instant SOTU polls, the sample reflects speech watchers who tend to be more politically engaged.
Nevertheless, the numbers suggest Trump struggled to energize his own audience, and fell short of the lift presidents typically achieve from the night.
The numbers CNN provided from previous leaders only covered their midterm-year polls.
This is a developing story. More to follow.
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