CNN Poll: Majority of Viewers Felt More Optimistic About America's Future After Watching Trump's Speech
President Donald Trump turned doubters into believers during Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech.
“Among speech watchers tonight, 64 percent said his policies would move the U.S. in the right directions,” CNN poll guru David Chalian said as he explained the results of a CNN post-speech poll, according to a video posted to X.
Chalian noted that Trump, speaking unfiltered to the American people, was persuasive in his explanation.
CNN: 64% of speech watchers say President Trump’s polices will move the country in the right direction 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eaYoPeYBnG
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
“And look at the growth President Trump made over the speech,” he said.
“Pre-speech, it was 54 percent of speech watchers thinking his policies would move the U.S. in the right direction. After the speech, the number goes up 10 percentage points, so Donald Trump made some progress with people watching the speech from their pre-speech expectations,” he said.
That kind of progress is crucial for Trump and his party, with crucial mid-term elections this year.
“If you’re a Republican on the ballot, in 2026, I think you leave this speech being as happy as you could possibly be,” Chalian said.
During the speech, Trump said Americans are economically better off today than the were during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, according to RollCall.
“Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment and trillions and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America because we finally have a president who puts America first. I put America first. I love America,” Trump said.
“For decades, before I came along, we had the exact opposite. From trade to health care, from energy to immigration, everything was stolen and rigged in order to drain the wealth out of the productive, hardworking people who make our country great, who make our country run,” he said.
Trump said that during the Biden era, “it reached a breaking point with the Green New Scam, open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. They were murderers, 11,888 murderers.”
“They came into our country. You allowed that to happen,” Trump told the Democrats in attendance.
“And record-setting inflation that cost the typical family $34,000 in just a speck of time,” Trump said.
“Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word ‘affordability,’ a word — they just used it. Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure,” he said.
“You caused that problem, you caused that problem. They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten, lie. Their policies created the high prices,” Trump said.
“Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well. Those prices are plummeting downward. The price of eggs is down 60 percent,” Trump said.
“The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent, is lower today than when I took office, by a lot. And even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly. Just hold on a little while, we’re getting it down.
“And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago,” he said.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
