Just 39 percent of Americans adults believe the state of the union is strong before President Joe Biden likely declares it so during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
According to Monmouth polling from Monday, less than four in ten Americans say the state of the union is strong, while fifty-eight percent say it is not strong.
Among those who doubt the union’s strength, 32 percent say the union is not too strong and 26 percent deem it not at all strong.
Just seven percent claim it is very strong. Thirty-two percent allege it is somewhat strong.
The nation has weathered difficult times under Biden’s leadership. More than two million migrants were apprehended at the southern border. Fentanyl become the greatest killer among 18-45-year-olds. Inflation soared to a 40-year high. Gas prices increased to all-time record highs. Weekly wages shrunk. Supply chain woes persisted. And the deadly Afghan withdrawal deeply embarrassed the nation.
According to the poll, Americans have soured on the state of the union since 2018 when former President Donald Trump was in office. Fifty-five percent in 2018 said the union was somewhat strong, compared to Biden’s 39 percent.
Independent voters are the main driver of the decreasing poll numbers. The survey found that “[i]ndependents’ opinion of the strength of the union has dropped more steadily from 52% in 2018, briefly plateauing at 44% in 2019 and 46% in 2022, and then dropping to 33% in the current poll.”
The survey also revealed that only 24 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the right direction. Seventy-three percent say it’s going in the wrong direction. Only 41 percent of Democrats, six percent of Republicans, and 22 percent of independents believe the nation is headed in the right direction.
The poll surveyed 805 adults in the United States from January 26 – 30 with a 5.7 point margin of error.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.