Bowling Green survey highlights voters views

OHIO — President Donald Trump is set to make his State of the Union speech at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.

As the president prepares to speak to the joint session of Congress, there’s a lot on the minds of Americans just over a year into his second term.

According to Bowling Green State University/YouGov’s February 2026 survey of 1,200 U.S. registered voters, 41% either somewhat or strongly approve of how Trump has handled the job as president. On the other hand, 51% strongly disapprove, and 7% somewhat disapprove.

Here’s what else the survey found.

Voters appeared to identify the economy as an important issue.

Respondents identified the following issues as the most important to them: the economy in general (42%), health care (31%), threats to democracy (32%), immigration (31%) and inflation (29%).

Only 28% of the respondents said the economic situation has improved (either somewhat or significantly) in the past year. That’s compared to 55% who said it has gotten much or somewhat worse. A total of 17% of people said it stayed about the same.

As the 2026 Midterm draws nearer, 49% of respondents said they’d support the Democratic candidate in Congress if the vote were today, compared to 41% who said they’d support the Republican and 9% who said they’d support neither.

A total of 59% of respondents feel the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, compared to 34% who feel it on the right track.

Operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have dominated recent media cycles, and it has seemingly not escaped the notice of voters. According to the survey, 58% of respondents said they’ve paid a great deal of attention to recent ICE raids, and 33% said they paid some attention. Only 9% of people said they paid little or no attention.

Most respondents oppose what they’ve seen of these “ICE raids,” with 50% strongly opposed and 9% somewhat opposed. A total of 27% of the respondents said they strongly favor the raids, and 14% somewhat favor them.

The majority of Americans agree with the statement “I am proud to be an American.” A little over half (52%) of the respondents strongly agreed with the state, and a quarter (25%) somewhat agree. A total of 23% of people either somewhat or strongly disagree.

You can view the full survey here:

Spectrum News reporter Susan Carpenter contributed to this report.