Millions of people are expected to tune in Tuesday night to watch President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. But according to a new Rasmussen poll, there is also an increased interest in the opposing party’s response.
Rasmussen found that 72 percent of likely US voters will follow Trump’s State of the Union address by watching the speech and/or news coverage of the address. The polling agency also found that a majority of voters (54%) are interested in the Democratic response as well.
Here is a break down of the findings:
- 72 percent of likely US voters “are likely to watch or follow news reports about Trump’s State of the Union speech.” Forty-six percent said they are “very likely” to do so.
- Interest in the State of the Union is up three points from Obama’s final State of the Union, but Obama peaked at 79 percent during his eight years in office.
- 54% “are likely to watch or follow news reports about Congressman Joseph Kennedy’s Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union speech.”
- Interest in the opposing party’s official response is up 6 points from Nikki Haley’s response in 2016 (48%), which was consistent for GOP responses during the Obama years.
It is interesting to note that there are going to be at least 5 responses to Trump’s SOTU, which include Kennedy’s response, the Spanish response, and US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).Be sure to follow IVN on Twitter for live tweets of the 2018 State of the Union.