Biden spoke early about Jan. 6 as a threat to democracy, referring obliquely to Trump as “my predecessor,” and polls show most voters agree with him that democracy is in trouble.

Only 28% of American adults said they were satisfied with the way democracy in the U.S. is working in a Gallup poll from December. In a December Navigator poll, two in three Americans were concerned about a repeat of the insurrection. In an August Morning Consult/Bipartisan Policy Center poll, 82% of voters said they were worried about U.S. democracy.

But Republicans, who remain convinced Trump is innocent of the 91 criminal charges he faces across four cases in different states (as he denies wrongdoing), are worried for different reasons. They believe the criminal cases against him are politically motivated. And Trump has continued to sow doubt about American institutions and the electoral process, undermining voters’ trust in institutions.

All of this could have major impacts for how the November elections go down.

-Monica Potts, 538

Biden reflected on the Jan. 6 attack, which took place in the same House chambers in which he is currently delivering his State of the Union address.

After saying "history is watching" in regards to the Russia-Ukraine war, Biden said, "Just like history watched three years ago on Jan. 6 when insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger to the throat of American democracy."

Biden called the push to overthrow the 2020 election he won over Trump the "gravest threat to U.S. democracy since the Civil War."

Referencing the former president without referring to him by name, Biden said, "My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6."

"I will not do that," he added. "This is the moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies."

Biden pointed to his State of the Union guests impacted by restrictions placed on reproductive rights at the state level.

"History is watching another assault on freedom," he said.

He told the story of Latorya Beasley, a Birmingham resident who successfully had a daughter through in vitro fertilization and decided to try for one more child. Her treatments were halted when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children under state law, which temporarily upended IVF access until Alabama legislators passed a new law.

Biden called for a similar federal bill.

"She was told her dream would have to wait. What she went through should never have happened," he said. "Unless Congress acts, it could happen again. So tonight, let's stand up for families like hers. To my friends across the aisle, don't keep this waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF!"

Read more from ABC News' interview with Beasley before Thursday night's address.

Biden briefly called out the Supreme Court's conservative-leaning justices over the loss of constitutional abortion protections, saying that women will be motivated to turn out to vote later this year.

"In the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect, justices -- 'women are not without electoral or political power,'" Biden said

The president was referencing the 2022 majority decision reversing Roe v. Wade's nationwide guarantee to abortion access which stated that “women are not without electoral or political power." Since then, abortion access has won as an issue in a variety of elections around the country.

Hi, I’m Monica Potts, a senior political reporter at 538. I’ll be watching the State of the Union and helping provide analysis and commentary about some of the themes from Biden’s speech. I’ll be especially interested in what he has to say about abortion, foreign policy, democracy and the economy. As my ABC News colleagues have noted, the night is really a sort of campaign kickoff event, and how he frames those issues could preview how he plans to talk about them with voters.

I’ll be able to provide context on how voters think about those issues as well. While my colleagues at 538 and I know that the State of the Union itself tends not to move the needle politically, the speech can tell us where Biden plans to focus his efforts this election year. It’s also an opportunity for Biden to assuage concerns from his own voters and inspire them to vote in November. The presidential race has the potential to be as close as the last two, so he’ll need it if he wants to win.

-Monica Potts, 538