Early polls give Obama speech thumbs up

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A CBS News poll conducted immediately after Tuesday's State of the Union speech indicated an overwhelmingly positive response from the American public.

The online survey of 500 viewers reported 92 percent approved of President Barack Obama's proposals and another 62 percent believed Republicans and Democrats in Congress had the ability to work together to find bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems.

CBS said 44 percent of the poll respondents identified themselves as Democrats, 25 percent as Republicans and the rest said they were independents.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey had 52 percent of the 475 adults who watched the speech giving it a "very positive" reaction. Another 32 percent were "somewhat positive" and 15 percent gave it a negative response.

CNN said the 52 percent "very positive" compared to 48 percent who held that opinion last year.