NEW: Trump Wins Over CNN Viewers

President Donald Trump returned to the State of the Union stage Tuesday night, and early reaction from viewers suggested the speech landed with much of the television audience.

A CNN Instant Poll conducted immediately after the address found 64 percent of respondents said Trump is moving the country in the right direction. Before the speech, 54 percent of viewers surveyed said they approved of the direction he was taking the nation.

The post-speech numbers undercut commentary from some of Trump’s critics, including CNN host Abby Phillip.

She described Trump’s presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, two Medals of Honor, two Purple Hearts and the Legion of Merit as “gameshow type moments” that “he had to do,” adding that other elements of the president’s message were a “hard pill for Americans to swallow.”

Viewers appeared to disagree, at least in the network’s immediate sampling.

Trump’s address also made history for its length. The president spoke for 108 minutes, setting a new record for the longest State of the Union speech, according to Breitbart News.

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He began at 9:11 p.m. EST and concluded at 10:59 p.m., surpassing the 100-minute mark from his 2025 joint address to Congress, Axios reported.

Before Trump’s speeches, the modern record belonged to former President Bill Clinton, whose 2000 State of the Union ran 89 minutes.

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