Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress

According to our analysis of 50 political polls released since the start of Trump's second term, much of the president's agenda is not supported by a majority of U.S. adults. Across nearly 300 questions asked in these polls, the average policy proposal or other official action by Trump is supported by just 38 percent of Americans, with 46 percent opposed to them.

The administration's most popular policies (and some of the few with positive approval ratings) have been those targeting transgender Americans — such as those updating federal documents to only include two genders — and the most unpopular moves are on health care, Trump's pardons of Americans convicted of crimes related to Jan. 6, 2021, foreign policy, and the "Department of Government Efficiency." When asked specifically about DOGE-related cuts to federal programs, most Americans opposed Trump's actions.

As of 1 p.m. Eastern,, 47.8 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, according to 538's average, whereas 47.7 percent disapprove. His net approval rating is much lower than every other president's at this point in their term.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538

A group of recent federal employees will be attending the speech as guests of Democratic senators and spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Alissa Ellman, a disabled Army Veteran who was recently fired from the Buffalo Department of Veterans Affairs, is a guest of Sen. Chuck Schumer and discussed her sudden dismissal.

"I worked until this last Tuesday, when my boss and myself were not even notified about my layoff. I was just locked out of my computer. I gave up my Social Security Disability payment to return to work for less than $500 a month. My story is not unique," she said.

Former Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal spoke about his concerns.

"By firing the inspectors general without proper notice, and without giving the detailed, case-specific reasons that the law requires, it's going to chill independent and non-partisan oversight, and I worry about the impact it's going to have on our government," he said.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray

The White House has released the list of guests of first lady Melania Trump who will be attending tonight's joint session of Congress.

It includes Marc Fogel, an American who was recently freed from a Russian prison and returned home to the U.S. last month.

Also invited is the family of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed by the gunman who also shot President Trump during his campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.

Other guests of the first lady are Stephanie Diller, the widow of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller; Allyson and Lauren Phillips, the mother and sister of Laken Riley; and Border Patrol agent Roberto Ortiz.

Since entering office, Trump has promised to promptly end the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine. But his approach to doing so has alarmed many U.S. allies, as his administration recently opened up talks with Russia and signalled openness to peace talks that could potentially embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and sideline Ukraine. Plus, a disastrous meeting in the White House with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week has left the U.S. alliance with Ukraine in question, once again putting Trump at odds with European leaders.

That would be a shift not only from U.S. policy under Biden, but from the outcome most Americans say they want: Americans have been sympathetic to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country three years ago. A strong bipartisan majority of Americans, 70 percent, said the U.S. should call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine that “guarantees Ukrainian security,” per an Ipsos poll from Dec. 13-15. Meanwhile, a Morning Consult poll in December found that while a growing number of Americans (as well as Europeans) believe the war could end soon, 47 percent said the U.S. should not push Ukraine into territorial concessions, even if that means lengthening the war.

Of course, there’s always been a limit to what Americans think the U.S. should do to aid Ukraine: Fifty-eight percent in the Ipsos poll said the U.S. can’t afford to take any military action in Ukraine, and polling by Pew Research Center has found that a growing percentage of Americans think we’ve committed too much support to Ukraine as the war dragged on. Unsurprisingly, that split has grown especially along party lines: A plurality of 47 percent of Republicans said the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine while a plurality of 35 percent of Democrats said we weren’t providing enough, in a Pew Research Center survey from Feb. 3-9.

Partisan splits are likely to keep shaping U.S. opinion on the issue as well. A Morning Consult poll from Feb. 21-24 found that only 26 percent of Republicans viewed Zelenskyy favorably and 39 percent view him unfavorably, while in contrast half of Democrats viewed him favorably and 14 percent viewed him unfavorably. And 37 percent of Republicans thought the U.S. should push Ukraine to let Russia keep the territory it’s gained in order to end the war, a jump up from the 28 percent who said the same in December; the numbers for Democrats were 20 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

—Monica Potts, 538