Was Biden's SOTU Address the Most Consequential in History?

The key is defining what "Consequential" means

Joe Biden, 2024 State of the Union Address | Office of the President of the United States

Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address was certainly very anticipated, intriguing, and highly scrutinized. Was it the most anticipated, intriguing, and highly scrutinized in history? I’m guessing probably not, considering all of the impactful events that have happened in our history, and our need to look to our leaders for guidance and assurance.

But was it the most consequential SOTU Address in history? I would say it may be at least one of the most, if not the most consequential in history.

I’m by no means a SOTU scholar, nor do I want to be. They are generally pretty boring and inconsequential, not very interesting or meaningful for the most part, except for rare occasions. Hence, the very reason why I think that Biden’s 2024 Address may be among the most consequential.

The key to this is first defining what “Consequential” means. According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, “consequential” can have several contextual meanings, but the main one for this context is: “having significant consequences”.

Then, the next question should be: What constitutes “consequences”? I think that one could look at approval ratings. If a SOTU Address moves approval ratings a significant amount, then it could be thought of as “consequential”.

Gallup published an article five years ago that analyzed the approval ratings of presidents before and after their SOTU Addresses, and this is their results: