There were plenty of reactions to President Trump’s Tuesday night State of the Union address, but there was one moment that voters whose feelings were recorded in real-time really seemed to love: when the U.S. Olympic gold-medal-winning men’s hockey team showed up. 

The young patriots received a well-deserved standing ovation:

Lee Carter, of the polling group maslansky+partners, said Independent voters especially loved the moment when the players entered the House Chamber wearing their gold medals and USA sweatshirts, and were met with thunderous "U-S-A" chants.

"The USA hockey team and military recognition moments were widely noticed," Carter said. "Visual, patriotic moments landed more consistently than policy-heavy segments."

Even a lot of the grumpy Democrats in attendance were forced to get off their lazy butts:

Here’s the US hockey team entering tonight during the state of the union to raucous applause. Most, but not all, Democrats stood to applaud them. pic.twitter.com/zs0kbe37uK

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 25, 2026

Dem voters watching begrudgingly acknowledged the moment, but independents ate it up:

According to the polling group, visual dials showed Independent voter reaction had the largest spike during the moment. Dials showed reaction from Republican voters, who were already energized by the speech, also increased, while reaction from Democrat voters, who were overall the least enthused during Trump’s speech, also saw a slight bump.

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Meanwhile, another moment showed that more and more people are getting tired of the extreme gender politics of the Left. Independents approved of the president’s message on the subject, although Democrats continued to cling to their divisive stances.

"But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will," Trump said. "Who would believe that?… We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately." 

The reaction:

As Trump delivered the remarks, the Republican line, shown in red, climbed sharply into positive territory. Independents, represented in yellow, also ticked upward, while Democrats, shown in blue, trended downward into negative territory.

The comments drew applause from Republicans in the chamber, but the president became incensed when he realized that Democrats refused to stand. [Note: I disagree with that take. He did not get "incensed" IMHO; rather, he calmly ripped them to shreds with a half smile on his face.]

"Look, nobody stands up," Trump said.  

"These people are crazy. I’m telling you. They’re crazy," Trump said, pointing his finger at Democratic senators and House members who remained seated. 

Republican reactions stayed elevated during the remarks, while Democratic responses remained negative and independent voters held relatively steady.

Voters react as Trump calls Dems 'crazy' for not applauding ban on secret teen gender transitions

The panel, assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners, included 29 Democrats, 30 Independents and 40 Republicans.

As Trump delivered the remarks, the Republican line, shown in… pic.twitter.com/RHbyJpj1TN

— ??⭐️OUR-VOICES⭐️?? (@iswho) February 25, 2026

Independents will be key to the midterms in November and in the '28 elections. The Democrats are going to have a hard time wooing them with despicable performances like the one they delivered Tuesday night. 

Editor's Note: With President Trump back in the White House, the state of our Union is strong once again.

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