SPECTACULAR – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  We have wondered what kind of bounce the president would receive from his State of the Union message.  We have the first polling answer:  A spectacular one.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows President Trump making substantial gains after Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, and achieving his highest voter approval since March 7, 2017. 

Forty-nine (49%) of Likely U.S. Voters approve of the president's job performance. Another 49% disapprove.

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 38% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -3.

These findings include the first two full nights of surveying following Tuesday’s speech.

COMMENT:  Okay, Rasmussen tends to give the president a bit more in polls than some other pollsters, but Rasmussen has also been awfully accurate.  Trump normally underpolls.  He did better in the primaries and in the general election than polls had indicated.  So if you see CNN come in with lower numbers, that's part of a pattern.

Rasmussen is the only daily tracking poll left, so we do get a sense of direction, and the direction for the president has, recently, been dramatically upward.  The president also gained substantially in the Fox poll, coming in recently at 45%.

All of this can change, of course, and you may be sure that the anti-Trump press, seeing the new numbers, will double down on its bias, to drive those numbers down again.  (Some smarter journalists will not double down, and will understand the new reality.)

The tax cut will show up this week in many paychecks.  That will not hurt Mr. Trump.

February 2,  2018