President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a prime-time State of the Union address Tuesday night after he promised to lower prices for working-class voters, which polls show is hurting the country’s economy.
Trump will speak at a key moment. Midterm elections are less than nine months away, threatening to strip him of the near-total control of Washington he enjoyed during his second term. And polls show Trump’s approval ratings are declining on once-key issues of the economy and immigration.
The economy is expected to feature heavily in President Trump’s speech, especially after the Supreme Court last week overturned his authority to impose broad tariffs, a key pillar of the president’s economic policy.
“You’re going to hear a lot about the importance of bringing jobs back to our country,” Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview on Fox News on Saturday. “I think he’s going to be talking about regulatory changes and the importance of lowering energy prices for Americans.”
Rising prices of daily necessities are one of the biggest problems President Trump will face in his second term. Democrats are cornering the president and other Republicans over affordability, an issue that resonates with voters.
In a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday, a whopping 57% of respondents said the economy is what they most want President Trump to talk about in his State of the Union address. Immigration was a distant second, with only 13% of those surveyed saying they wanted the president to talk about it.
Democrats have widened their lead by 4.8 points in the popular congressional vote heading into the 2026 midterm elections, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. On the same average, Trump trails by 13 points. Meanwhile, a recent Washington Post/Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 57% of voters disapproved of his handling of the economy.
President Donald Trump speaks to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, March 4, 2025.
Mandel Gunn | via Reuters
Asked about the biggest issue Trump will need to address during his speech, David Paleologos, a pollster and director of the Center for Political Research at Suffolk University, said: “Primarily the economy.” “I’m not saying President Trump has to have a ‘I feel your pain’ moment like (former President) Bill Clinton did, but he has to make himself more like his fellow countrymen who are hurt and devastated.”
In recent speeches on the economy, President Trump has touted efforts to lower prescription drug prices, including agreements with manufacturers and the launch of the online drug site TrumpRx.
In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in January, President Trump said, “We’re seeing the biggest reduction in prescription drug prices in history.” “It will also have a big impact on your health care.”
President Trump has recently sought to shift the burden of affordability onto Democrats, claiming in Iowa that Democrats “just say it’s affordable and don’t do anything.”
“I was rebuilding this country on a horror show that we inherited. Grocery prices, airfare, hotels, car payments, rent prices have all gone down. And they’re going down very quickly,” President Trump said.
The president and Congressional Republicans have also touted the tax cuts they pushed through in party-line legislation, calling it “one big, beautiful bill.”
Meanwhile, Democrats plan to respond to the president’s State of the Union in a variety of ways.
Virginia’s Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, plans to publicly push back against Democrats who are rushing to win in 2025 with policies focused on affordability.
Abigail Spanberger will be sworn in as the 75th Governor of Virginia on January 17, 2026 in Richmond. She is the first woman to serve as governor of Virginia.
Marvin Joseph | Washington Post | Getty Images
Spanberger’s speech is expected to focus on costs, as well as issues such as whether the president has gone too far in his efforts to deport immigrants. The Trump administration has been criticized for its immigration crackdown after two Americans were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history. Virginians and Americans across the country are grappling with rising prices, community disruption, and real fear of what will happen every day,” Spanberger said in a statement when he was announced as the official rebuttal speaker.
“I think Abigail Spanberger will continue her message,” Paleologos said. “The average voter, and certainly the average swing voter, is thoughtful and rational. And the ones who fly off the handle are the potential losers.”
A group of Democratic lawmakers will attend an alternative event called “State of the Union” hosted by the progressive advocacy group MoveOn and the left-wing media company Meidas Touch.
Among the big names avoiding President Trump’s speech at an alternative event include Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Rep. Greg Casale (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“These are not normal times, and attending this speech would be a veneer of legitimacy for the corruption and misconduct that defined his second term,” Murphy said in a statement about the boycott.
Other Democratic lawmakers are also expected to attend the speech. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged lawmakers to avoid loud protests if they attend.
“The two choices before us are to either show up in silent defiance or not show up and send a message to Donald Trump in that way,” Jeffries said.
