U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term this evening, after last year's speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. The President warned yesterday it would be "a long speech", as there is "so much to talk about"; he is expected to defend his agenda, including his immigration policies, which are causing unrest across the country, and to outline his priorities for the year ahead. At least a dozen Democratic lawmakers have announced they would be boycotting President Trump's speech and would instead attend a 鈥淧eople鈥檚 State of the Union鈥, described as 鈥渁 rally counterprogramming President Trump鈥檚 night full of lies and misplaced priorities for the American people" in a press release.
As our infographic shows, how many people tune into a State of the Union address follows a certain pattern. Viewers seem more interested in first-year presidents and are more likely to tune in following a scandal or contentious issue. Over time, interest in one president鈥檚 SOTU addresses usually wanes.
This is where President Trump was bucking the trend at first. More TV viewers tuned into 2019's State of the Union Address than the year before. 46.8 million watched the president give the address right after a prolonged government shutdown, up from 45.6 million in 2018,. In 2020, Trump lost viewers - turned on the TV for the broadcast.
Trump has relied heavily on television to get his message out and is especially popular on Fox News, which also bolstered his ratings in the past. Yet, there is a general downward trend in these ratings as TV is becoming less important as a medium. For perspective: President Barack Obama鈥檚 first SOTU was viewed by 52.4 million people in 2009, President Bill Clinton鈥檚 by 66.9 million in 1993. Only 47.7 million watched Trump鈥檚 first address to the Joint Session of Congress in 2017.
