After Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address, CNN political director David Chalian broke down the network’s instant poll — and it didn’t exactly produce the outrage or “failing Trump” narrative that the left likes to see. It was the kind of segment that left-wing pundits will be scrambling to spin before breakfast.
You could tell the numbers would be bad for the left when Chalian immediately began qualifying the findings.
“I just want to take a moment here to explain. This is a poll of speech watchers,” he began. “So it is not a poll that is reflective of the population overall.”
Yeah, that’s kind of how polls of speeches work. Thanks for reminding us.
But seriously, the fact that he made sure to emphasize that point twice, you just knew. It was like he was really about to say, “Hey, don’t get too happy, MAGA world.”
Oh yeah, and there was another caveat before he began.
“What we know about people who tune in to State of the Union addresses,” Chalian added, “they tend to be fans of the president, whichever president is giving the speech.” He explained that the “polling universe here is about 13 points more Republican than the overall population usually is.”
You ready?
“So just keep all that in mind as we go to the results,” Chalian continued, doing damage control in real time. “Get this reaction from those that watch the speech tonight. 38% said they had a very positive reaction to the speech, 25% somewhat positive, 36% negative.” He paused just long enough for the math to sink in. “So roughly two-thirds in the positive territory, one-third negative among speech watchers.”
Let that line marinate: two-thirds positive.
On CNN.
For Donald Trump.
🚨 CNN Instant Poll for President Trump's State of the Union 🚨
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) February 25, 2026
"Roughly two-thirds in the positive territory... among speech watchers." pic.twitter.com/5LToamz0YH
Chalian also noted that among speech watchers, 64% “say his policies will move the U.S. in the right direction.”
But here’s a metric I think is really important: the change from pre-speech to post-speech. According to the poll, before the speech, 54% of speech watchers said Trump’s policies would move the United States in the right direction — a 10-point jump.
Related: Trump Takes a Brutal Swipe at Nancy Pelosi During State of the Union
“So Donald Trump made some progress with people watching the speech from their pre-speech expectations to what they saw in the speech itself,” Chalian observed. “And that 64% number, that's pretty much in range across all of his State of the Union addresses, in his first term, last year, the joint session, that's about what we've seen is roughly two-thirds have walked away from his speeches thinking he's going to move it in the right direction."
CNN: 64% of speech watchers say President Trump's polices will move the country in the right direction 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eaYoPeYBnG
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
Since this is CNN, Chalian still tried to cast the moment as a low point, even though most people who tuned in clearly liked what they heard, and even he had to admit that it was a good night for Republicans running in this year’s midterm elections.
“If you're a Republican on the ballot in 2026, I think you leave this speech being as happy as you could possibly be that he sort of stuck to the script on the economy,” Chalian said. “He gave red meat to the base on immigration, and they can leave the hall tonight and sort of take that out on the campaign trail.”
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