Britt said inflation was "at a 40-year-high." That was true in June 2022, when year-over-year inflation hit 9.1%, but it's fallen in recent months. What is true is that inflation is affecting Americans: 63% said price increases have caused financial hardship in a Gallup poll from January.

-Monica Potts, 538

Sen. Katie Britt is giving the GOP response to Biden's address from her home in Alabama.

She said she is worried about the future of the country and called Biden an "out-of-touch," "permanent politician" who has been in office "longer than I have been alive."

Britt, 42, is the youngest GOP woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

In closing out his address, Biden spoke to the future he envisions in America -- one where democracy is defended, not diminished, and rights are protected, not taken away.

"I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes," he said. "I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence."

"Above all, I see a future for all Americans," he said. "I see a country for all Americans."

As he gears up for the general election, he spoke of a united country and said he will "always be a president for all Americans."

As Biden began to wrap up his speech, he made his first reference to his age: an issue polling has shown is a major concern for voters.

The remark mixed Biden's strategy for quelling such doubts: self-deprecating humor and assurances that age equals wisdom.

"I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while," he joked. "And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before."

"My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy," he said. "A future based on the core values that have defined America. Honesty. Decency. Dignity. Equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor."

He added: "Now some other people my age see a different story. An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me."

Continuing to swipe indirectly at Trump, who is 77, Biden said it's Trump who will move the country in the wrong direction.

"My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are. Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back."

I’m especially interested in what the president has to say about abortion rights. It has been a winning issue for Democrats, and a losing one for Republicans, since the Supreme Court upended the status quo and reversed Roe v. Wade's protections in June 2022. In fact, polling shows that Americans have become even more supportive of abortion rights since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was issued.

Democrats will be eager to campaign on expanding and protecting reproductive health this fall, and their voters rank the issue highly, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

In that same poll, 55% of voters said they want to see the federal government protect abortion access across the country, and one in eight voters said it was the most important factor determining their vote.

On the opposite side, many anti-abortion groups want their candidates to support a national ban, something that’s very unpopular with the public as a whole.

-Monica Potts, 538