What the State of the Union means for the US midterm elections

What the State of the Union means for the US midterm elections

From Swamp Notes by Financial Times

February 27, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of Trump's State of the Union address on the upcoming midterm elections.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump gave what is likely to be his most viewed remarks of the year. He spent little time on his most controversial decisions, instead focusing on economic issues and immigration that have appealed to voters in the past. But, at a point when Trump’s approval ratings are dropping, what does his speech mean for the looming midterm elections? The FT’s deputy Washington bureau chief Lauren Fedor and Jon McHenry, vice-president of the polling firm North Star Opinion Research, explain. Mentioned in this podcast: State of the Union as it happened Sign up for the FT’s Swamp Notes newsletter here Swamp Notes is produced by Henry Larson. This week’s show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz and the FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson.  The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts. CREDIT: Roll Call Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Henry Larson

Guests: Lauren Fedor, Jon McHenry

Topics covered

  • State of the Union
  • US midterm elections
  • Trump's approval ratings
  • economic issues
  • immigration

Keywords

  • State of the Union
  • midterm elections
  • Trump
  • approval ratings
  • economic issues
  • immigration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: North Star Opinion Research, Financial Times, Roll Call, Acast, Swamp Notes

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