Snap polls reveal how speech watchers reacted to Trump's address to Congress

The speech, lasting more than 90 minutes, was the longest address to a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address in 60 years.

According to a CNN instant poll, nearly seven in 10 respondents viewed Trump's speech as positive {44% said very positive and 25% said somewhat positive), while 31% offered that they had a negative reaction (15% somewhat negative and 16% very negative).

There was a similar response in a snap survey conducted for CBS News.

Instant polls of State of the Union addresses or speeches to joint sessions of Congress are often favorable to the presidents delivering those speeches. That is because speech-watchers represent a small portion of the public, and they are usually much more likely to be from the president's own party, which is reflected in the poll results. 

CNN noted that 44% who had a very positive view of Trump's speech is lower than the 57% who felt the same way in their instant poll of Trump's address to Congress eight years ago, near the start of his first administration. Additionally, they pointed out that it was also four points lower than the 48% who gave Biden a big thumbs up in his initial address to Congress in 2021, at the start of his single term in the White House.