State of the Union Narrative Analysis

Overview

On February 7th, President Joe Biden gave the annual state of the union address in the House Chamber located in the nation's capital. In this address, he highlighted his policy achievements thus far and delivered a speech that outlined what he aims to do in the remainder of his term. More importantly, though, he laid the framework for policy that he may run on in 2024. 

The speech was filled with the typical routine of standing ovations and sitting down when you disagreed with what the president had to say. One highlight from the night came when President Biden mentioned that a small minority of Republicans wanted to do away with Social security potentially. This garnered a loud reaction from the Republican side of the aisle, which came with lots of head shaking and shouting in protest. 

According to CNN, President Biden’s longest talking point was about health care which came in at 8:57 minutes of talk time. His least talked about topic was opioids at 8 seconds. 

See how the media has reacted in the build-up of the address and the following couple of days of the speech in this Kudzu brief. 

Key Insights

• The name “Tyre Nichols” appeared in 259 unique sources in our U.S media module, which is the 6th most popular mention by source. Tyre Nichols was the victim of a violent traffic stop that resulted in the loss of his life in Memphis, Tennessee on January 7th. His parents were both in attendance at the address on February 7th. 
• The number one trending theme dynamic centered around Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her response to the State of the Union address. In her response she called for a new GOP leadership and doled out criticism to President Biden’s policy goals and failures.
• Our most active source was “FOX News” which took up 4.5 percent of our module on this topic, and amplified 190 articles over the last 3 days.