Huckabee Sanders response seen as more divisive, extreme than Biden speech: survey

Viewers who watched both speeches found Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s (R) response to President Biden’s State of the Union address to be more extreme and divisive than the president’s address to the nation, according to new polling.

A 58 percent majority of people who watched both speeches found Sanders’s follow-up to Biden to be extreme, compared to 47 percent who found Biden’s address to be extreme, according to a new Politico-Morning Consult poll. And 59 percent of people who watched both found Sanders to be divisive, with 50 percent of respondents viewing Biden’s speech that way.

Sanders, 40, the youngest governor in the U.S., was tapped by GOP leadership to deliver the response to Biden in part to highlight the age difference with Biden, 80, who is the oldest serving president ever. She used the speech to call for a new generation of Republican leadership.

In her speech, Sanders attacked Biden on his age and blasted his record as president. And while Biden painted an optimistic vision of the U.S. economy and direction of the country, Sanders described a much more dire and dark landscape, attacking “woke” culture.

“He is unfit to serve as commander-in-chief and while you reap the consequences of their failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” Sanders said in her speech. “America is great because we are, but today our freedom is under attack and the America we love is in danger. President Biden and the Democrats have failed you and it’s time for a change.”

Biden defended his record in his State of the Union address, using it as what many interpreted as a launchpad for a 2024 reelection campaign, which he has yet to announce. But Biden assured that the state of the union was strong and highlighted record job growth and key legislative victories, like the Inflation Reduction Act, taking a victory lap in front of detractors in Congress.

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