President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech this week drew 32.6 million television viewers, representing a decline of 4 million from his previous year’s congressional address and marking his lowest viewership for the annual presidential message.
According to Nielsen ratings, Trump’s remarks — which set a record as the lengthiest televised State of the Union in presidential history — aired across 15 separate television networks.
During his initial presidential term, Trump consistently attracted at least 37.1 million viewers for each of his four State of the Union speeches. His audience numbers surpassed 40 million annually from 2017 to 2019, reaching a high point of 47.7 million for his inaugural address, Nielsen data shows.
Tuesday’s viewership figures closely matched those of former President Joe Biden’s last State of the Union in 2024, which drew 32.2 million watchers. The presidential address continues to rank among television’s most-watched annual events, especially among older demographics, with 23.6 million of Trump’s Tuesday audience being viewers aged 55 and older.
Fox News Channel dominated viewership preferences, capturing 9.1 million of Trump’s total audience. ABC News secured second place with 5.1 million viewers, while no other network managed to attract more than 3.6 million watchers.
