Trump to deliver address as voters sour on his economy

President Donald Trump is set to deliver his prime-time State of the Union address at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday night as polls indicate voters are souring on his economy, after he made promises to lower prices for working-class voters.

Trump will speak at a critical moment. The midterm elections, looming less than nine months away, threaten to rip away the near-complete control of Washington he has enjoyed in his second term. And public polling indicates Trump is sinking on what were once his key issues: the economy and immigration. 

The economy is expected to feature heavily in Trump’s address, especially after the Supreme Court last week overturned his authority to issue a wide swath of his tariffs — a key plank of his economic platform.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC in a statement that the president’s speech will highlight how, in “one year, President Trump has turned our country around from the brink of disaster, and he will rightly declare the State of Our Union is strong, prosperous, and respected.”

He will “proudly tout his Administration’s many record-breaking accomplishments” and will lay out “an ambitious agenda to continue bringing the American Dream back for working people,” Leavitt said.

The president is also going to address energy prices in his address, according to the vice president.

“You’re going to hear a lot about the importance of bringing jobs back to our country,” Vice President JD Vance said in a Fox News interview on Saturday. “I think he’s going to talk about regulatory change, the importance of lowering energy prices for American citizens.”

High prices for everyday goods are one of the biggest problems facing Trump in his second term. Democrats are hounding the president and other Republicans on affordability, an issue that resonates with voters. That includes the costs of utilities, healthcare, prescription drugs, food and housing, along with a slew of other costs.

In a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday, a whopping 57% of respondents said what they most wanted Trump to speak about in his State of the Union was the economy. Immigration was a distant second, with only 13% of those polled saying they would most like the president to speak on it.

Democrats have opened up a 4.8-point lead in the generic congressional ballot leading up to the 2026 midterms, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages. Trump is underwater 13 points in that same average. Meanwhile, 57% of voters disapproving of his handling of the economy in a recent Washington Post/Reuters/Ipsos poll. 

“It’s the economy predominantly,” said David Paleologos, a pollster and the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, when asked about the top issue Trump needs to address during his speech. “I’m not saying Trump has to have an ‘I feel your pain’…