Biden draws worst viewing for a first SOTU in 30 years with just 38 million Americans tuned in

President Joe Biden had the lowest viewership for his State of the Union than any of his four predecessors first addresses with less than 40 million tuning in, according to Nielsen ratings.

In a tracking of the 16 networks that aired live coverage of the address on Tuesday evening, 38,197,000 individuals were watching from 27,408,000 different households in the U.S.

The figures from Biden’s speech come amid an ongoing war in Ukraine and increasingly dire approval rating numbers for the president and Democratic lawmakers going into the 2022 midterm elections.

Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address in 2018 had 45.5 million viewers from 32.1 million households.

Barack Obama’s first State of the Union garnered 48 million viewers, George W. Bush’s 51.7 million and Bill Clinton 45.8 million.

Bush garnered a big boost for his first official address because it came just four months after the Twin Towers fell in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. 

Nielsen ratings score shows nearly 38.2 million people tuned in for President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 3, 2022 – the least of his four predecessors

The figures from Biden’s speech come amid an ongoing war in Ukraine and increasingly dire approval rating numbers for the president. Pictured: Biden shakes hands with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi upon arriving for his first State of the Union address before Congress Tuesday

The first State of the Union after the attacks on January 29, 2002 garnered 51,773,000 viewers from 35.5 million households and his remarks the year after saw 62,061,000 people tune in for the speech, the second most ever since Clinton’s first address to a joint session of Congress.

Bill Clinton had the most viewership ever since Nielsen tracking started in his first address to Congress in 1993 with 66.9 million viewers on just four networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN.

Joint Session addresses are delivered just months after a president is elected so the new Executive Branch leader can lay out to the legislative body their plans for the country. It is not considered the first ‘State of the Union,’ that comes around a year after inauguration.

The marks for Biden’s speech Tuesday evening were a noticeable improvement from his joint session address last year, where only 26.9 million viewers tuned in from 19.95 million households, which was the lowest of any address since tracking started in the early 90s.

Nielsen ratings are pulled from network television as more Americans are pulling the plug on cable and switching to streaming services. The tracking advisory noted, however, that out-of-home viewing and connected TV viewing was included in the 2022 figures.

Biden’s Tuesday figures just edged out Trump’s last State of the Union in February 2020, which drew just over 37.1 million people.

The first 12 minutes of the president’s address on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 was aimed at Russia following its invasion of Ukraine – and included an announcement that the U.S. is closing its airspace to Russian flights and aircraft.

It also came with a stark warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin: You have ‘no idea what’s coming.’

Biden announced ‘strict’ new measures in Tuesday’s address against Moscow and its wealthy elite with a new task force to go after the ‘crimes’ of Russian oligarchs, while reaffirming that he would not send American forces into Kyiv.

‘We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,’ Biden said, prompting the rare sight of members of both parties standing to applaud.

The president’s State of the Union address typically focuses on domestic policy, but the raging conflict in Ukraine and a plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Biden to make Americans understand it is a ‘war for the values of democracy and freedom’ meant the leader changed his focus.