As the country prepares for President Biden’s State of the Union address, new polling shows that most Americans do not feel like the union is in a healthy state.

A new Marist Poll conducted between January 23 and 26 found that the majority of Americans, 62 percent, felt that the state of the union was “not very strong” or “not strong at all.” On the other hand, 36 percent of respondents felt that the state of the union was “very strong” or “strong.” 

The sentiment that the union was weak was most common among independents, 72 percent, and Republicans, 69 percent. About half of Democrats, 49 percent, shared this opinion. 

In terms of the president, the poll found that 43 percent of Americans approve of Mr. Biden’s performance and 48 percent disapprove. “If President Biden is looking for an opportunity to alter a mostly static approval rating, the State of the Union is his next best chance,” the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, Lee Miringoff, said.

To accomplish this task, Mr. Biden is expected to try to tout his accomplishments over the past two years, something he has already started doing in an “economic travel blitz,” according to the White House.

“During the State of the Union, President Biden will outline how the past two years have seen historic job growth, falling inflation, higher wages, and record investments coming back to America,” the White House said.

The Republican response is nearly certain to address these claims, particularly concerning inflation, which has been falling since June after rising for most of Mr. Biden’s tenure. It was 1.4 percent when he took office.

The economy is not the only thing weighing on the minds of many Americans. Most reported feeling that extremism is becoming a major problem.

According to the poll, the majority of respondents, 52 percent, said that extremism in the Republican Party is a major problem, including 18 percent of Republicans. Also, 46 percent of respondents reported that extremism in the Democratic Party is a major problem, including 16 percent of Democrats.

“Biden needs to flip public sentiment about the strength of the union and find middle ground to offset many Americans who view the political parties as extreme,” Mr. Miringoff said.

If last year’s State of the Union is a model, Mr. Biden may succeed in bolstering Americans’ views of the country and his presidency, at least in the short term. Following the 2022 address, the president saw an eight-point bump in his overall approval rating, to 47 percent from 39 percent before the speech, according to Marist Poll.

Americans’ view of Mr. Biden’s performance on three key issues generally improved, including the economy, the handling of Covid, and his approach to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

With Republicans attacking the president on the debt ceiling, the recent handling of a Chinese spy balloon, and the level of support being given to Ukraine — a topic on which public opinion has shifted dramatically since last year — the results following this year’s State of the Union could be different.

Although the top House Republican, Speaker McCarthy, delivered a so-called prebuttal to Mr. Biden’s speech Monday that mostly focused on the debt ceiling, the governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, will deliver the Republican response.