Poll after poll shows that an increasing number of Americans are concerned that President Donald Trump is not paying enough attention to the country’s most important problems, a sober backdrop to his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

A CNN poll, released Monday, finds that the percentage of Americans who say that the president is focused on the wrong things went up to almost 70% from 55% in February 2025. Large majorities of young voters, independents and nonwhite voters — key constituencies that helped reelect Trump — say that the president is not focused on the country’s most important issues.

While 47% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, only 40% approve of his other immigration policies, according to a poll conducted last week by ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos. That is a 10-percentage-point drop since he took office.

And only 34% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of tariffs, even as he moves to find ways around the Supreme Court ruling Friday that struck many of them down.

Voters are most discontent with his handling of inflation, with only 32% of Americans in favor of it. That percentage is in line with Joe Biden’s approval numbers on inflation when he was president.

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The New York Times will occasionally feature polling that illustrates how Americans are feeling about the issues of the day. The numbers come from high-quality polls with a record for accuracy and rigorous methods.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Ruth Igielnik/Kenny Holston

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