SOTU: Democrats Hated It, Republicans Loved It, But 1 Group Shocked Everyone
For conservatives, President Trump’s State of the Union address hit it out of the park. It touched on pretty much everything that conservatives were hoping for, focusing on jobs, security, terrorism, illegal immigration and, most importantly, American unity.
Predictably, the left hated it. And that’s not just judging by Nancy Pelosi’s decision to keep her seat warm and her glare frosty throughout the night.
A CBS News/YouGov poll that surveyed viewers who watched the speech found that while 75 percent of viewers liked the speech, “just over half of Democrats said it made them feel angry.” Only 43 percent of Democrats liked it.
Meanwhile, 97 percent of Republicans liked the speech, according to The Hill.
The makeup of the 1,178 voters who took the survey (which had a margin of error of 3.1 percent, for you stats geeks) was 42 percent Republican, 25 percent Democrat and 33 percent independent.
That last group is pretty important. After all, it was independent voters that helped propel Trump to the presidency back in 2016, and they’re the group Republicans will need to hold onto Congress in 2018.
So, what did they think of Trump’s speech? The numbers were pretty shocking — over 72 percent approved.
All in all, Trump outperformed expectations, at least if previous CBS polls were any indication. Earlier this month, only 33 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats approved of Trump’s job performance.
A speech doesn’t necessarily match up with job performance, mind you, especially since the former can be scripted. But that’s the thing — a lot of Trump’s State of the Union was about his job performance, unfiltered by the interpretations of the media.
In terms of how the speech made viewers feel, Trump also came out well for the night.
Sixty-five percent of people said they felt proud after watching and 35 percent said they felt safer, compared to 14 percent who said they felt scared and 21 percent who said they felt angry.
Perhaps most tellingly, only 14 percent of respondents wanted Democrat lawmakers to “show clear opposition to what they don’t like during the speech” as opposed to 86 percent who wanted them to “wait until the speech is done and respond after it.”
That’s probably not going to sit well with Nancy “2018 Frown Champion” Pelosi, Chuck “Cesar Romero’s Joker” Schumer and Luis “I’m Taking My Ball and Going Home” Gutierrez.
If the State of the Union is now a political showdown, there was little question Donald Trump was the winner, in spite of all of the forces allied against him — Joe Kennedy, Maxine Waters, Stormy Daniels, etc.
Viewers who ordinarily wouldn’t tune in were impressed hearing Trump without the filter of the media, which is currently on the Nixon/Putin setting. Even Democrats weren’t as unforgiving as they typically are during polls.
For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, as well as their colleagues in the House and Senate, that’s not good news.
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