Americans Think Obama, Kennedy, Reagan Gave Best Inaugural Addresses

Thirty-eight percent of Americans say the will watch the inauguration.

ByABC News
January 15, 2017, 9:45 AM

— -- President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly drawing inspiration for the first draft of his inaugural speech from presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan -- which may serve him well with the American people who believe those presidents' inaugural addresses were among the best.

Together with our partners at SSRS survey research firm, we asked Americans which U.S. president has given the best inaugural speech. The top choice among respondents was outgoing President Barack Obama, followed by presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Asked if they plan to tune in to watch Trump's inaugural address on Friday, Jan. 20, forty-one percent of Americans said no, 38 percent said yes and 21 percent said they are unsure if they will watch.

Americans are also divided on how they feel about Trump's taking office. Asked what one word best describes how they feel about the upcoming inauguration, respondents said "excited," "hopeful," "scared" and "sad."

The ABC News/SSRS Poll was conducted using the SSRS Probability Panel. Interviews were conducted online from January 12 – January 13, 2017 among a nationally representative sample of 267 respondents age 18 and older. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-7.7% at the 95% confidence level. Design effect is 1.63. The SSRS Probability Panel is a probability-based, online panel of adults recruited from random digit dialed landline and cell phone numbers. For more information, visit http://ssrs.com/abc-news-ssrs-opinion-poll-week-fifteen-topline/