From Fox News: President Donald Trump’s introduction of the gold medal-winning USA men’s Olympic hockey team during the State of the Union address on Tuesday night was met with largely positive bipartisan reactions among voters.
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.”
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.
According to the report, 29 Democrat voters, 41 Republican voters and 30 Independent voters were involved in the voter dials.
The U.S. Men’s Hockey team defeated Canada in the Olympic finals Sunday, in a 2-1 victory. Tuesday morning, President Trump sent the plane normally used as Air Force Two to pick up the team in Miami, Florida and bring them to D.C.
The victorious team visited Trump in the Oval Office earlier on Tuesday, then were waiting outside the doors as he delivered his State of the Union address.
“Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud. The men’s gold medal Olympic hockey team,” Trump announced during his speech, adding, “Come on in!”
In they came, and the room erupted in a massive round of applause, although about half the Democrats reportedly refused to applaud, even for that moment.
Amid the applause, President Trump announced that he was awarding goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gold medal winning Team USA men’s hockey team at the State of the Union.
President Trump announces goalie Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.#SOTU #SOTU2026 pic.twitter.com/nsxOgWYJLL
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 25, 2026
After the event, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) commented on the amazing moment with the U.S. hockey team.
I just left President Trump’s State of the Union…
America is back! pic.twitter.com/zIzhRO8K4K
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) February 25, 2026
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