On Tuesday, President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address at a precarious moment, after a year marked by continuing struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, declining political fortunes for him and his fellow Democrats, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and, now, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The speech offered Biden an opportunity to try to pull some discontented voters back onto his side, all while giving due gravity to the situation in Eastern Europe.

Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, Patrick Martin, Towner French, Kaitlyn Martin, and Tristan Breaux offer the main takeaways from the President’s address and discuss how the fast-shifting international crisis sparked by Russia’s violent invasion is already reshaping political views in the U.S. and impacting the domestic economy.