Over 72% of Americans were impressed by Joe Biden’s State of the Union address or – “Had positive reaction” to Biden’s speech in the cold, sharp words of CNN’s flash poll. This coming Sunday, Americans will watch the Super Bowl. You will have a hard time getting 72% of the American public to agree on whether the ball is brown or a sneaky color of blue and black, faked through television pixels to get the country on the Democrats’ side.  In short, 72% agreement is nearly impossible to attain nowadays. But Biden pulled off the impossible: From CNN

A 72% majority of Americans who watched President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address had a positive reaction to the speech, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with a smaller 34% reacting very positively.

It was a State of the Union, not the Super Bowl. How many people are going to be “very positive” either way?

That pattern of broad but tempered enthusiasm is similar to the reception for Biden’s speech last year. In 2022, 71% of speech-watchers reacted positively to his address, with 41% saying their reaction was very positive. 

The fact is, when people actually listen to Biden, instead of hearing him through Republican voices, people still like Joe, just as they always have. He’s the same guy that brought Lindsey to tears.

Below. Do NOT let it somber yourself in any way:

Good marks from speech-watchers are typical for presidential addresses to Congress – in past years, most viewers reported positive reactions to third-year addresses from former presidents Donald Trump (76% positive), Barack Obama (84% positive) and George W. Bush (84% positive). The 34% who reacted very positively to Biden’s speech is the lowest in CNN’s speech reaction polls dating back to 1998. 

True. And yet the country was not as polarized during those periods as it is now, not even in the Trump period, where you would think that perhaps 40% of the country would be in a fury having to watch Biden (The hardcore MAGAs), the number was knocked way back. Notice how the numbers were already on their way down after President Obama when Trump managed to break 75% for the first time in recent memory.

I suspect that Biden and his aides will consider this a win, as they damned well should. Well done, Mr. President.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: MUCH LEFT ADO