85 Approval From Americans Who Watched Biden's Speech

It is misleading to claim that 85% of Americans approved of the president’s speech last night, as CBS's poll was based on viewers who tuned in, and not the entire country. Biden’s actual approval rating among Americans is 57%, according to Gallup’s most recent poll, and 53%, according to FiveThirtyEight. 

CBS also reported that 54% of viewers identified as democrats, which may have further boosted approval ratings. According to Reuters, 26.9 million people watched the remarks, in which the president covered topics including the Covid-19 relief package, the American Families Act, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, among others. It was his first speech before a joint session of congress, and he received several significant moments of bipartisan applause. 

CBS’s survey was based on 943 interviews with adults, weighted to represent a range of ages, races, education levels, political affiliations, and regions. It included thirteen multiple choice questions such as “In general, did you approve or disapprove of the president’s speech tonight?”

Analytic sites such as Gallup and FiveThirtyEight gather their data by collecting every scientific poll of presidential approval ratings and weighing averages to account for each poll's quality. Compared to Biden’s current 53% approval ratings, previous presidential ratings from April of their first year in office placed Donald Trump at 41%, and Barack Obama at 63%.