The president made the case for why he deserves a second term.
President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night.
The speech provided Biden one of his biggest audiences of the year as he made his case for a second term and contrasted his vision of the country's future with Republicans ahead of what's expected to be a lengthy general election fight with former President Donald Trump.
ABC News live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the speech, with 538 providing analysis and a closer look at the polling and data behind the politicians.
We haven't seen as much polling on student loans since the Supreme Court scuttled Biden's big student-loan forgiveness plan this summer. But a slim majority of Americans, 51%, approved of Biden’s plans in a NORC for GenForward And a Winston Group for Winning the Issues poll from September found that a plurality, 44%, trust Democrats more on the student debt issue.
—Monica Potts, 538
Biden also called for tax reform, reiterating a longtime push to boost taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
"I propose a minimum tax for billionaires of 25%, just 25%. You know what that would raise? That would raise $500 billion over the next 10 years. Imagine what that could do for America," he said, noting the additional funds could fund things like expanded child care.
Biden spoke of the burden of student debt during his State of the Union address.
"I fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans including nurses firefighters and others in public service," Biden said.
The President referenced Keenan Jones, a public-school educator in Minnesota, who is in the audience Thursday.
"He’s educated hundreds of students so they can go to college, now he can help his own daughter pay for college," Biden said of Jones.
"Such relief is good for the economy because folks are now able to buy a home, start a business and even start a family," Biden said, adding, "While we’re at it I want to give public school teachers a raise!"
Biden reiterated his calls for free access to pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds, saying children who attend early pre-school are more likely to finish high school and go onto receive a college degree.
He also said he wanted to expand tutoring and summer learning time and "see to it that every child learns to read by third grade."
"While we’re at it I want to give public school teachers a raise," he said.
