State of the Union preview: Trump promises a long speech to the nation at a pivotal time for his presidency

Previewing Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Trump told reporters on Monday that “it's going to be a long speech because we have a lot to talk about."

The annual, constitutionally mandated ritual takes place before a joint session of Congress and is viewed as an opportunity for the president to frame his administration’s agenda in a favorable light. But so much has happened over the last year — and so much of it has been seen unfavorably by the American people — that Trump will face something of an uphill battle when he heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday night.

Ahead of the speech, Trump seemed to signal that he would be using the State of the Union to address widespread concerns about the direction of his presidency — and make the case that U.S. voters should keep his Republican Party in power when they head to the polls for November’s midterm elections.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

How and when to watch

Trump is set to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 9 p.m. ET. News outlets including PBS, CBS, CNN and Fox will carry the speech live, as will the White House website, YouTube page and social media platforms.

Turbulent times for Trump

While all presidents use the State of the Union to highlight their accomplishments over the previous year, Trump will take the podium at a particularly challenging time for his administration.

Just a few days ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s sweeping tariffs — the signature economic policy of his second term — were imposed illegally and must be removed. Though Trump immediately took action to partially replace those tariffs using a different legal authority, the decision represents a rare and striking rebuke from a conservative court that has mostly come down in his favor since he first ascended to the presidency in 2016.

Trump will be giving the speech in the midst of a shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security, spurred by Democrats who are refusing to fund the federal arm of Trump’s immigration crackdown unless major reforms are put in place. The DHS ran out of money on Feb. 14, and there is no end in sight to the impasse. This is the third shutdown of Trump’s second term.

The president is also facing questions about a potential war with Iran as the U.S. military builds up its forces in the region and he warns of “bad things” to come if a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program can’t be reached.

The economy has been relatively strong throughout the first year of Trump’s second term, but the State of the Union comes at a time when economic growth is lagging behind expectations, interest rates remain stubbornly high and Americans continue to feel the strain of rising prices.

What the polls say

A new Yahoo/YouGov poll conducted from Feb. 9 to 12 found that Trump’s approval rating has fallen to match its lowest level ever. Just 38% now approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president (down from 40% last month). That number had slipped to 38% in only one previous Yahoo/YouGov poll — at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020. It has never been lower.

Meanwhile, the president’s disapproval rating has risen to 58% (up from 56% last month). That’s also a new high.

The trend is clear. When Trump first returned to office early last year, his average approval rating was higher than his average disapproval rating. The two lines crossed in March 2025. Since then, the president has sunk from six points “underwater” in the April 2025 Yahoo/YouGov survey to 20 points underwater today.

In comparison, former President Joe Biden was about 8 points underwater at this stage of his presidency. Trump was about 13 points underwater at this point in his first term.

The president also faces a widening gap in the intensity of opinion between Americans who think he’s doing a good job and Americans who think he’s doing a bad job. A full 49% now “strongly” disapprove of Trump’s job performance; just 22% strongly approve. Likewise, 40% of Americans now consider Trump to be the “worst president in U.S. history,” while only 12% think he’s the best.

Americans even think Trump is failing to meet the standard of performance set by his immediate Democratic predecessor.

Despite the fact that Trump recently replaced a White House portrait of Biden with a photo of an autopen — and described Biden as “by far, the worst President in American History” on the plaque beneath the image — 49% of Americans think Trump is “doing a worse job than Biden.” Significantly fewer (41%) think Trump is doing a better job than Biden.

If the midterm elections were held today, 44% of registered voters say they would vote for the Democratic candidate in the district where they live; 41% say they would vote for the Republican.

Will there be any notable guests?

Presidents and lawmakers from both parties frequently bring special guests to the State of the Union, often as a way to bring attention to the issues they care about most. This year’s speech is no exception.

Several Democrats have invited survivors of Jeffrey Epstein amid continuing criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of files connected to the notorious sex trafficker. Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar is expected to bring four Minneapolis residents who have been affected by the administration’s violent immigration raids in the city. Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois is bringing the CEO of Learning Resources, an educational toy company that was the lead plaintiff in the case that led to Trump’s tariffs being struck down.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has invited family members of Marc Tyler Brock, a Louisiana police officer who was killed in the line of duty in November. YouTubers Nick Shirley and David Hoch are also expected to attend as the guests of GOP Rep. Pete Stauber. A viral video created by Shirley and Hoch, in which they made misleading claims about fraud at Minneapolis day care centers run by Somali immigrants, served as a key catalyst for the Trump administration’s decision to escalate its immigration operation in the city.

Trump invited both U.S. Olympic hockey teams to attend after their gold medal victories. The women’s team declined. The men’s team has not formally responded.

Who’s delivering the Democratic response?

Newly inaugurated Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address immediately after Trump finishes speaking to Congress on Tuesday.

In November, Spanberger defeated Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears by a better-than-expected 15-point margin to flip the commonwealth for Democrats after four years of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin — a result that was widely interpreted as an early electoral rebuke of Trump’s second-term priorities and performance.

A former CIA officer and three-term U.S. representative, Spanberger now serves as Virginia’s first female governor.

“We chose our commonwealth over chaos,” Spanberger told her supporters on election night. “You all chose leadership that will focus relentlessly on what matters most: lowering costs, keeping our communities safe and strengthening our economy for every Virginian — leadership that will focus on problem-solving, not stoking division.”

Each year, the opposition party tries to counterprogram the president’s annual address by platforming a rising star who can articulate its chosen message and embody the image it wants to convey.

Spanberger’s selection suggests that Democrats plan to emphasize moderation and affordability as they target college-educated suburban voters — especially women — in November’s midterm elections.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California will also deliver a Spanish-language response to Trump’s State of the Union.