Going into President Donald Trump’s Tuesday State of the Union address, Americans had concerns about the economy. He has addressed some of those concerns so far.
“Our nation is back,” said the president to kick off the address.
According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans said the nation’s economic conditions were fair or poor as of last month. Six in 10 also had a negative view of Trump’s tariffs policies – including some tariffs struck down last week by the U.S. Supreme Court. Majorities were very concerned about the cost of healthcare (71%), consumer goods (66%), and housing (62%).
Trump touted tax cuts, stock market highs, jobs created in the private sector, his prescription drug program, his investment program for infants, mortgage rates coming down, falling inflation, tariffs and more.
PolitiFact real-time fact checking said his claim that his administration has instituted “the largest tax cuts in American history,” is “mostly false” as well as his claims that foreign countries pay for his tariffs and that gas prices are below $2.30 per gallon nationwide. It also said that his claim that tariffs could replace income taxes doesn’t “add up” mathematically.
Regarding inflation, Barron’s said that two measures of standard inflation show that it is still above the Federal Reserve Bank’s 2% target. However, inflation is down from a post COVID-19 pandemic high it hit in 2022, during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
CNBC backed up Trump’s comments about falling mortgage rates in a Monday report. It said “rates just dropped below 6%, matching lowest level since 2022.” Trump has also proposed a ban on “large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes.”
“We’re going to do better and better and better, this is the golden age of America,” said Trump.
While Republicans enthusiastically supported Trump through the address, Democrats could be heard rejecting parts of it. At some points Trump and Democratic members of Congress snapped at each other across the House of Representatives chamber.
Some Democrats boycotted the speech. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who has been escorted out of a Trump address before, was again escorted out Tuesday.