Trump’s State of the Union address seen by 32.6 million people, down 4 million from 2025 speech
Feb 26, 2026, 2:54 PM
President Donald Trump applauds with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
An estimated 32.6 million people watched President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address this week, down four million from his speech to Congress last year and the smallest audience he’s ever gotten for the annual message.
The Nielsen company said that his speech — the longest televised State of the Union address by any president, was seen on 15 different television networks.
Trump never dipped below 37.1 million for his four addresses in his first term. He exceeded 40 million viewers from 2017 through 2019, with a peak of 47.7 million for his first one, Nielsen said.
His audience on Tuesday was comparable to predecessor Joe Biden’s final State of the Union in 2024, where he reached 32.2 million viewers. The State of the Union address remains one of the most-watched television events of the year, particularly with an older audience: 23.6 million of Trump’s audience Tuesday night was aged 55 and up.
Fox News Channel was easily the destination of choice, with 9.1 million of Trump’s viewers watching that network. ABC News came in second with 5.1 million, and no other television network exceeded 3.6 million.
