CBS News Poll: Large majority of people who watched Trump speech liked it

President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

A new CBS News poll shows a large majority of people who watched President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress last night approved of what they saw and heard.

The speech was the first major address that Trump has made since taking office for a second time on January 20. It was carried live on many TV networks.

The viewership was heavily Republican, because a president’s party draws more of its supporters to watch these types of televised addresses. The poll shows 51% of viewers were Republicans, compared to 27% independents and 20% Democrats.

This CBS News/YouGov survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of viewers immediately following the president’s address.

Among those viewers, 76% said they approved of the president’s speech, compared to 23% who did not.

More than 70% of speech viewers described the president as “presidential,” “entertaining” and “inspiring.”

As for the major issues, 77% said they approved of Trump’s views on wasteful government spending and immigration. A similar number, 73%, said they support him on Ukraine/Russia. A slightly smaller number, 65%, said they support his action on tariffs.

The survey was based on 1,207 interviews of adults who watched the speech. The margin of error is ±3.4 pts.