US President Joe Biden is scheduled to give his annual State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Unfortunately, most Americans are not optimistic about the Union’s current state.
Ahead of US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Americans have grown increasingly worried about the direction the country is headed toward – including most Democrats.
According to a Monmouth University poll taken in late January, less than four in ten (39%) Americans feel the State of the Union is either “very strong” or “somewhat strong,” with only 7% saying they think it is “very strong.”
Meanwhile, 58% of Americans believe the state of the Union is either “not too strong” or “not strong at all.” In the same poll taken in March of last year, 56% of Americans responded that the state of the Union was strong.
When asked if they thought the country was on the right or wrong track, 73% of poll respondents said it was on the wrong track. There was a strong partisan divide among the respondents (only 6% of Republicans said the country was on the right track) but a majority of Democrats, 55%, agree with the 93% of Republicans who say the country is on the wrong track. Independents, critical to any national election, are likewise pessimistic about the course the country is on: 75% say the country is headed down the wrong track.
Americans also no longer see the US government as a force of good in their lives. A majority, 59%, say that Washington has a negative impact on their lives. In 2015, when Monmouth first added that question to the poll, that number was just 50%. Only 16% said the current government has a positive impact on their lives in the most recent poll.
Biden’s speech on Tuesday will be the first time he addresses Congress after the midterm elections saw Republicans take control of the House of Representatives. He is expected to tout his administration’s accomplishments and lay out his goals for 2023.
The poll surveyed 805 Americans and had a margin of error of 5.7%.
How to Have Fun Watching the Address?
Biden is not known as the best orator. For anyone planning to watch the Tuesday speech and wants to spice up the viewing and lay down some action, online sportsbooks are offering prop bets. The most straightforward bet is how long the speech will be (Over/Under 59.5 minutes).
Other bets include who the designated survivor will be (Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is the odds-on favorite at +700), if House Leader Kevin McCarthy will channel his inner Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by ripping a copy of Biden’s speech and how many times the Washington Post will fact check Biden, among other options.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AK) will be giving the Republican response, online bookies have been offering a few prop bets for that as well.
If you prefer to risk your sobriety rather than money, State of the Union drinking games were all the rage during the Trump administration and Biden’s first address. There doesn’t appear that any media outlets made “official” rules this time around, but outlines drawn for Biden’s 2022 speech will likely suffice for all but the most hardened drinkers.

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