World News: Four takeaways from Biden’s first State of the Union speech – Gulf Digital News

World News: Four takeaways from Biden’s first State of the Union speech – Gulf Digital News

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden faced a formidable challenge in his first State of the Union speech, after a year in office buffeted by the Covid-19 pandemic, a jittery economy and now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden served notice on Tuesday that much of the world is united against Russian aggression while also trying to seize the moment to make Americans feel optimistic about the days ahead.

Here are some takeaways from his speech:

UNITY ON RUSSIA

The conflict in Ukraine has given Biden some rare bipartisan support, and the American public is slowly warming to his handling of the crisis.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Biden at 43% approval for his response – a jump of nine points from last week. Even with the bump, Biden’s overall approval rating, however, remained underwater at 43%.

In his speech Biden stressed two points crucial to maintaining public support for his actions: He pledged to continue organizing a global coalition to place financial pressure on Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, while at the same time ensuring that U.S. forces will not be involved in the fighting. For that he received sustained applause from Republicans in the chamber.

"He did a high-level job explaining to the American public