President Trump’s State of the Union speech, in which he called for unity but remained hardline on immigration reform and his demand to build a border wall, got mostly positive reviews from viewers, according to surveys.
A CNN poll found 59 percent had a very positive reaction to the speech, 17 percent had a somewhat positive reaction and 23 percent had a negative reaction.
A CBS News survey found that 76 percent of Americans who watched the speech gave Trump a thumbs up, while 24 percent disapproved.
It also showed that 56 percent believe the speech will do more to unite the country than divide it, but 36 percent think it won’t make much of a difference.
Broken down by political party, the CBS survey found that 97 percent of Republicans approved of Trump’s speech, 30 percent of Democrats did and 82 percent of independents agreed.
The CNN poll showed that 87 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents said it was very positive, but 64 percent of Democrats said it was very or somewhat negative.
On immigration, the CBS survey found 72 percent approved of what the president said about the issue and 28 percent opposed his views.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents in the CNN poll said they believe Trump’s immigration policies would move the country in the right direction and 31 percent said they would move the country in the wrong direction. One percent either didn’t know, were undecided or refused to answer the question.
The CNN poll surveyed 584 people who watched the speech. It has a plus/minus 5.4 percentage-point margin of error.
The CBS poll surveyed 1,472 people who watched the address. It has a plus/minus 3 percentage-point margin of error.