Joe Biden’s First State Of The Union Address Draws 32 Million Viewers

Joe Biden campaigned as a unifying factor aiming to rescue America’s soul in his successful 2020 White House run. In his first State of the Union address, the 46th President of the United States emphasized the importance of unity. However, according to reports, it has drawn a huge number of viewers.

Biden spoke for just over an hour before mostly unmasked members of the House and Senate, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and notable guests, focusing on both global and local concerns. The speech was full of drama and surprises for a country drained and decimated by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Biden proceeded despite multiple standing ovations and at least two taunts from Rep. Lauren Boebart (D-Massachusetts) (R-Colo):

“My report is this: the state of the union is strong because you, the American people, are strong. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we’ll be stronger a year from now than we are today.”

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With inflation and oil prices rising, Vladimir Putin’s impeded but still, powerful forces pounding and progressing on Ukrainian cities, and a Biden-led coalition pulling the plug on Russia economically via ever-increasing sanctions, there was clearly more interest in POTUS’ appearance before Congress this year than in 2021. And the increased interest was evident in last night’s viewership.

Biden’s first State of the Union address managed to draw just over 32.3 million viewers on broadcast and cable news networks. This result is for a combination of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC. Biden’s SOTU audience of 32,301,000 is a substantial increase from the 22.6 million viewers he drew across seven outlets last April 28 when he spoke to a masked and sparse Congress.

According to Nielsen, the audience for the 2022 SOTU is comparable to the audience for Barack Obama’s addresses during his second term. However, Joe Biden is on the road today in the battleground state of Wisconsin, as was typical of Presidents prior to the pandemic, selling his unity agenda and foreign policy skills.

As more viewership figures from other outlets arrive, keep an eye on Thirsty for the updates.

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