Looking ahead to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, here’s what’s on Americans’ minds and what they want to hear from the president, with context from recent CBS News polling.
What do people want to hear about?
Inflation. More think it’s important for President Trump to talk about his plans for lowering prices than any other item tested. It’s the top issue for both Republicans and Democrats.
Inflation is an issue (along with the economy) that a big majority of Americans think should be a high priority for the president but don’t think he is prioritizing it a lot.
Seventy-seven percent of Americans say their incomes are not keeping up with inflation.
Many also want to hear about plans for Medicare and Medicaid, the federal budget and cutting taxes.
Americans are less likely to think it’s important to hear the president talk about things like reductions in the federal workforce, what Congress should do, and the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Who plans to watch the speech?
Mainly Republicans. President Trump’s address to Congress will likely have a relatively friendly audience consisting primarily of Republicans. Historically, those in the president’s own party have been more inclined to watch an address like this or a State of the Union speech.
In keeping with this, Americans who plan to tune in to tonight’s speech are more likely to be Republicans than Democrats or independents. Most of those potential watchers who voted in the 2024 presidential election cast their ballot for Donald Trump.
(During Joe Biden’s presidency, the audience who watched his speeches to a joint Congress had more Democrats than Republicans.)
Three in four of those who say they’ll watch the speech approve of the overall job Trump is doing as president.
We gave people a list of things the government funds. None of them registered a majority wanting cuts, except foreign aid.
While many Americans think cutting government spending in principle should be a high priority, most do not want cuts to federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, education, defense, or border enforcement. This is also true among Republicans.
Congress and the president
There’s still a general view that the president’s party in Congress, the Republicans, should push back on the president when they disagree. This includes most of the nation’s rank-and-file Republicans who say so.
MAGA Republicans, though, are more likely than Republicans as a whole to say congressional Republicans should do what Trump wants.
Most Democrats would look for their congressional delegation to oppose Trump as much as possible.
Americans’ views on key issues
Reviewing the tariff issue in the news: Tariffs on countries like Mexico and Canada aren’t popular with most Americans (there’s more support for tariffs on China), according to polling we did in February, prior to the implementation of the tariffs. One reason: nearly three in four thought new tariffs on imported goods generally would lead to price increases.
This is important because Americans for years have told us that prices are a top reason they don’t think the economy is good and told us they don’t feel their incomes are keeping up with inflation.
Taxes. Many want to hear the president talk about cutting taxes, and there is majority support for Congress to extend the 2017 tax cuts, even among more than a third of Democrats.
Deportation policy. During the 2024 campaign most voters — and overwhelmingly, Trump voters — supported the idea of his new mass deportation program. Today, a majority of Americans approve of the Trump administration’s current deportation policy.
Russia-Ukraine. Prior to the Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the pause in U.S. aid to Ukraine, the country continued to divide along partisan lines over military aid to Ukraine.
This analysis is based on CBS News/YouGov surveys conducted with nationally representative samples of U.S. adults. Each sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to gender, age, race, and education, based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The three surveys were fielded Feb 5-7, 2025 (MOE: ±2.5 pts), Feb 24-26, 2025 (MOE: ±2.3 pts), and Feb 26-28, 2025 (MOE: ±2.5 pts).
