How popular was Trump’s Congress speech? Poll shows how it compares to past presidents

Many Americans who tuned in to watch President Donald Trump’s speech in Congress had a positive reaction, according to a new poll, which surveyed around 400 people and included an outsized number of Republicans.

It was the president’s first speech to Congress since returning to the White House.

But compared to past speeches, his positive ratings were dampened.

In a CNN/SSRS flash poll conducted after Trump’s March 4 address to a joint session of Congress, 44% of respondents said they had a “very positive” reaction, while 25% said they had a “somewhat positive” reaction, making for a net positive rating of 69%.

Meanwhile, 15% said they had a “somewhat negative” reaction, and 16% said they had a “very negative” reaction, making for a net negative rating of 31%.

The poll, which had a margin of error of 5.3 percentage points, was conducted with a GOP-heavy pool of 431 U.S. adults.

Forty-four percent described themselves as Republicans, while 21% said they were Democrats and 35% said they were independents or members of another party. The pool of respondents was “about 14 percentage points more Republican than the general public,” according to CNN.

Comparison to past Trump speeches

Trump’s speech — in which he touted his blitz of executive orders on immigration, energy and LGBTQ issues — was less popular than his previous congressional addresses, the poll said.

Trump’s last address to Congress in 2019 received a net positive rating of 76% — seven points higher than his most recent speech.

And his previous two congressional addresses — in 2018 and 2017 — garnered net positive ratings of 70% and 78%, respectively, the poll said.

“So, this was not Donald Trump’s best speech,” a CNN political director David Chalian said, referring to Trump’s March 4 address. “But obviously still, the plurality of speech watchers had a very positive reaction to it.”

Comparison to past presidents

Trump’s speech — which was not technically considered a State of the Union address, given its proximity to his inauguration — was also met with lower positive ratings than most congressional addresses given by his recent predecessors, according to the poll.

Former President Joe Biden’s last address was a notable exception, receiving a net positive rating of 65% — four points lower than Trump’s latest speech.

But Biden’s three previous addresses all scored higher (78% in 2021, 71% in 2022 and 72% in 2023).

Going back further, the positive ratings for the speeches delivered by Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were higher than Trump’s.

Obama delivered seven congressional addresses, with his highest net positive rating of 92% coming in 2009 and his lowest net positive rating of 73% coming in 2016, his last year in office.

Bush, meanwhile, garnered his highest net positive rating of 94% in 2002 and his lowest rating of 75% in 2006, according to the poll.

Just two of Clinton’s addresses — from 1999 and 1998 were included for comparison. These received net positive ratings of 83% and 84%, respectively.

This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 10:58 AM with the headline "How popular was Trump’s Congress speech? Poll shows how it compares to past presidents."