
CORRECTION: Due to an internal error, Raw Story published this piece after Obama’s third State of the Union in 2012. This poll was actually conducted about the 2011 State of the Union. We apologize for the error.
A survey taken moments after President Barack Obama finished giving his State of the Union speech found that an overwhelming majority of Americans who viewed the speech, including Republicans, strongly favored the president’s proposals.
In total, 91 percent of those surveyed approved of Obama’s agenda.
The CBS News poll’s focus group was 500 people: 25 percent Republicans, 44 percent Democrats and 31 percent independents. The network explained that the reason there were more Democrats in the survey is because more people from the president’s own party tend to watch the annual State of the Union speech.
Approximately 27 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republican, the poll noted — versus 34 percent identifying as Democrats and 39 percent as independents.
Most remarkable of all, the poll found that approval of Obama’s agenda skyrocketed among speech watchers. Approval of his plans on the economy shot up from 53 percent to 82 percent; on the deficit, approval went from 45 percent to 80 percent; on the Afghanistan occupation, 83 percent approved, up from 57 percent. CBS News did not offer a partisan breakdown for Obama’s approval on individual issues.
A full 75 percent of respondents also said that Obama’s agenda will create jobs and make the U.S. more competitive.
The one area where the president did not gain as much traction is on his health care reforms, passed by Congress in 2010. Approval of the health care bill went from 56 percent to 65 percent after the speech. It was not one of the president’s main topics.
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