"45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history,” President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Trump incorrectly calls his SOTU address most watched in history

President Donald Trump incorrectly claimed Thursday that the State of the Union address he delivered earlier this week was the most watched in history, even though his own 2017 address to Congress got higher television ratings.

“Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “@FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!”


The president did not make clear the source of his statistic, although the 45.6 million figure matched the one put out by Nielsen, which monitors television data.

Despite Trump’s claim that his State of the Union on Tuesday had been the most watched ever, it actually had slightly fewer viewers than his 2017 address to a joint session of Congress — remarks that were effectively the equivalent of a State of the Union address — which Nielsen said was watched by nearly 47.8 million people.

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A White House official suggested Trump's tweet was intended to convey that the president was talking about cable news in his remarks. The official did not offer an explanation as to why the president cited Nielsen's overall viewership numbers if his intention was to post about cable news.

Trump’s State of the Union did improve upon the most recent numbers of his predecessor, Barack Obama, whose final State of the Union address in 2016 was watched by 31.3 million people. But Obama’s early speeches before Congress significantly outdrew Trump’s: His first address to a joint session of Congress, in 2009, drew 52.3 million viewers, and his first State of the Union address, in 2010, attracted 48 million.

Former President George W. Bush also delivered State of the Union addresses that attracted more viewers than Trump’s. Bush’s 2003 speech, which took place weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, drew 62 million viewers, while his 2002 speech, months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, attracted 51.7 million.

Former President Bill Clinton’s 1993 joint address to Congress, meanwhile, drew 66.9 million viewers.

