8 Out of 10 Americans Thought Trump’s State of the Union Was About Uniting the Country

More than eight out of 10 Americans, 81 percent, who watched President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night think he was trying to unite the country, not divide it, a CBS News poll found.

8 in 10 Americans who watched Pres. Trump's #SOTU address felt he was trying to unite the country, rather than divide it. Two-thirds said the speech made them feel proud, though just a third said it made them feel safer, CBS News poll finds https://t.co/SRoN9NzmKE pic.twitter.com/bvyG3myhgt

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 31, 2018

The CBS News poll was conducted among 1,178 respondents.

Fifty-four percent of speech viewers polled think the policies the president addressed will help them personally, while 14 percent said the policies would hurt them, and 32 percent said the policies would not affect them.

Throughout his address on Tuesday night, Trump sought to extend an olive branch to the Democrats, as he is hoping to pass bipartisan legislation in the new year. According to the CBS News poll, Trump was able to find that bipartisan common ground with his plan for infrastructure spending.  

Ninety-one percent of those polled said they favored Trump’s policies on roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, while only 9 percent of viewers said they did not agree with those policies.

Trump is also seeking bipartisan support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals legislation to protect from deportation young people brought as children to the country illegally by their parents.

He said in his address that he favors legislation that grants DACA recipients a 12-year path to citizenship. Seventy-two percent of those polled agreed with the DACA proposal, while only 28 percent opposed it.

During the president’s annual address, many congressional Democrats refused to stand and applaud on issues that one might expect to have bipartisan support, such as for the lowest black unemployment rate on record, for DACA recipients receiving a path to citizenship, or for a blind, double amputee who re-enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Eighty-six percent of those polled said congressional Democrats should have waited until the speech was over before they responded to it.

The survey was conducted online and calculated at a 95 percent confidence level with a plus or minus 3.1  percentage point margin of error.

View the full poll results here.