A CNN/SSRS poll of state of the union (SOTU) viewers conducted Feb. 24 after President Donald Trump’s speech shows largely positive ratings from viewers. SOTU viewers overall gave President Donald Trump positive marks on his agenda for the country, the economy, immigration, and handling foreign policy and the U.S. military, according to the survey’s findings.
Though the audience was disproportionately Republican and independent — CNN noted the audience was 41 percent Republican, 41 percent independent and just 18 percent Democrat — the positive bump President Trump received from swing voters should not be discounted.
Among those who gave President Trump credit were college-educated voters, a group that has been notoriously critical of Republicans in recent election cycles, but a group that has shown marked movement back toward the GOP since last year.
The survey found voters said by 28 points — 64 percent to 36 percent — that the policies President Trump proposed during his SOTU speech will move the country in the right direction. This was a bump in positive sentiment compared to how likely viewers felt pre-speech when polled Feb. 17-20. Pre-speech, just 54 percent of likely viewers thought President Trump’s policies would move the country in the right direction, meaning the president earned a ten-point bump after his speech.
College-educated voters said the policies President Trump proposed Tuesday will move the country in a positive direction by ten points, 55 percent to 45 percent.
When comparing those numbers to polling conducted Feb. 17-20 before his speech, 46 percent of college-educated voters thought President Trump’s policies would improve the country. But keep in mind that included the normal weighting of Democrats.
When asked if they have confidence in President Trump to provide real leadership for the country, college-educated voters who saw the speech said they have a lot or some confidence in the president’s leadership by a sixteen-point margin, 54 percent to 38 percent.
President Trump’s handling of foreign policy, specifically Iran, is one of the areas in which college-educated viewers trust the president the most. During his speech, President Trump made it clear he prefers to make a deal with Iran to avoid conflict but noted that the nation would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons on his watch. College-educated viewers said by a broad twenty-nine-point margin that they have confidence in President Trump’s ability to make the right decisions regarding Iran, 59 percent to 30 percent.
Similarly, college-educated viewers said by a twenty-six-point margin they have confidence in President Trump’s ability to use U.S. military power responsibly, 60 percent to 34 percent.
College-educated voters hold strong confidence in President Trump’s approach to border security, with viewers saying by ten points they believe the president’s policies will move the country in the right direction. College-educated viewers support the policies President Trump spoke on — which include maintaining a secure border, ending catch-and-release and deporting illegal criminals — by a ten-point margin, 55 percent to 45 percent.
College-educated viewers were slightly more skeptical on President Trump’s proposed economic policies — which focused on lowering costs, increasing production of U.S. products, and maintaining tax cuts — but overall sided with the president. College-educated viewers said by six points, 53 percent to 47 percent, that President Trump’s economic proposals would move the country in the right direction.
That said, college-educated viewers appear critical of President Trump’s approach to tariffs. This question in the survey reveals that the audience, while GOP-leaning, is still critical of certain policies the president has focused on. College-educated viewers said twenty-four points, 62 percent to 38 percent, that the president’s handling of tariffs is overstepping his power. This response reveals that the college-educated segment of the audience was not unilaterally in favor of Trump’s policies, which makes their favorable responses more likely to be representative of the larger college-educated population as well.
As a Feb. 10 Cygnal survey recently showed, college-educated voters, particularly women, are on the brink of moving back toward Republicans in November, largely due to Democrats’ inaction on crime and border security. The Cygnal survey showed a ten-point shift toward a generic Republican candidate among college-educated voters, and an eleven-point shift among college-educated women.
Although college-educated voters disagree with President Trump’s implementation of tariffs, he earns trust on the economy overall. In addition, college-educated voters support the president’s immigration strategy by double digits. While the college-educated vote has been trending Democrat in recent election cycles, there is evidence of a modest shift back toward the GOP. President Trump’s SOTU speech was well received among college-educated viewers, with the president earning particularly high marks of trust on handling the U.S. military and handling negotiations with Iran.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
