Barack Obama's State of the Union address largely approved

 Americans who watched President Barack Obama's State of the Union address largely approved, giving him better marks than they did for last year's speech, according to instant polling conducted by CNN.

The speech also increased watchers' confidence the president's policies "will move the country in the right direction." The number of those saying that rose 15 percentage points, from 57 percent in a pre-speech survey among speech watchers to 72 percent afterward. That was similar to Obama's 17-point gain on the same measure last year