On Tuesday, February 24, Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union speech in the Capitol, clocking in at 108 minutes, thereby turning his address into the longest one ever delivered by a sitting president. Yet, the 79-year-old witnessed a drop in viewership.
Fewer Americans tuned in to watch Trump deliver his speech, leading viewership to drop by 12 percent compared to the previous year. According to data released on Wednesday, February 25, the State of the Union speech was viewed across the seven most-watched networks.
TV Ratings: State of the Union Trends Down in Early Numbershttps://t.co/qpLoAXt1AB
— Shawn Griffin (@509ShawnG) February 26, 2026
Yet, despite appearing on ABC, CBS, CNN, MS Now, NBC, Fox News and the Fox broadcast network, around 27.8 million people tuned in to watch Trump’s 108-minute speech. The previous year, around 31.45 million viewers watched his joint session of Congress.
This year, Fox News Channel earned the most number of views, with 9.1 million viewers between 9:15 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. Despite this, the channel witnessed a 15 percent drop in total viewers. Further, ABC News earned 5.1 million views, NBC received 3.6 million and CBS got 3.3 million.
Meanwhile, CNN and MSNBC each had around 2 million viewers, which made these the only two networks to see double-digit growth compared to last year. The White House hasn’t addressed this drop in viewership. The Hollywood Reporter, however, mentioned that this is quite common.
According to the outlet, it is common for viewership of a State of the Union address to fall after a president’s first year in office. Previously, this same pattern was seen during the presidential tenures of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Now, Trump has witnessed a similar drop.
Meanwhile, this drop in viewership comes as the president witnesses a growing opposition to his ambitious and controversial agenda. Further, he has also seen a steady decline in his approval rating, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
BREAKING: Trump is sinking under stunningly bad approval numbers, suffering negative approval for 310 days in a row in all areas: immigration, the economy, and Epstein files.
America is fed up.pic.twitter.com/5nFzeKuBsU
— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) January 15, 2026
The poll places Trump’s current approval rating at 39 percent positive and 60 percent negative, which is the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any U.S. President in the past 80 years. Hence, it appears that the 79-year-old is struggling with his second tenure.
Trump, however, is trying to look on the positive side, which even led him to majorly focus on what he called the successes of his first year back in office during his State of the Union speech. He spoke about the economy, immigration and national security, while honoring hockey champions and military heroes.
President Trump absolutely knocked it out of the park tonight. I am so proud to work for him, and so proud to be an American! 🇺🇸
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) February 25, 2026
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt strongly defended the president after the speech. Taking to her X account, Leavitt stated, “President Trump absolutely knocked it out of the park tonight.” She further added, “I am so proud to work for him, and so proud to be an American!”
However, Democrats made their disagreements clear during the speech. Trump opponents like Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, interrupted parts of his speech and hurled strong criticism. Despite all the drama, Trump’s speech failed to achieve the same level of views as the previous year.
