WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation’s condition rather than roll out flashy policy proposals as he delivers his second State of the Union address seeking to overcome pessimism in the country and concerns about his own leadership.

His speech before a politically divided Congress comes Tuesday night as the nation struggles to make sense of confounding cross-currents at home and abroad — economic uncertainty, a wearying war in Ukraine, growing tensions with China among them — and warily sizes up Biden’s fitness for a likely reelection bid.

The president will stand at the House rostrum at a time when just a quarter of U.S. adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About three-quarters say things are on the wrong track. And a majority of Democrats don’t want Biden to seek another term.

Biden will aim to confront those sentiments head on, aides said, while at the same time trying to avoid sounding insensitive to Americans’ concerns.

Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said Biden would “acknowledge and meet American people where they are,” adding that their “economic anxiety is real.”

“I think the core message is: We have to make more progress, but people should feel optimism,” he added.

Chapman University presidential historian Luke Nichter said the closest parallel to Biden’s present circumstance may be the 1960s, when global uncertainty met domestic disquiet. Biden, he said, has an opportunity to be a “calming presence” for the country.

“Usually we’re looking for an agenda: ‘Here’s what he plans to do.’ I don’t know that that’s really realistic,” Nichter said. “I think Americans’ expectations are pretty low of what Congress is actually going to achieve. And so I think right now, sentiment and tone, and helping Americans feel better about their circumstances, I think are going to go a long way.”

The setting for Biden’s speech will be markedly different than a year ago, when it was Democratic stalwart Nancy Pelosi seated behind him as speaker. She’s been replaced by GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and it’s unclear what kind of reception restive Republican will give the Democratic president.

With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and legislators from both parties are inviting guests designed to drive home political messages with their presence in the House chamber. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those expected to be in the audience.

Biden is shifting his sights after spending his first two years pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package, a bill to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate legislations. With Republicans now in control of the House, Biden is turning his focus to implementing the massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements rather than crafting major new initiatives.

It’s largely by necessity. Biden faces a newly empowered GOP that is itching to undo many of his achievements and vowing to pursue a multitude of investigations — including looking into the recent discoveries of classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and former office.

At the same time, Biden will need to find a way to work across the aisle to raise the federal debt limit by this summer and keep the government funded. Biden has insisted that he won’t negotiate on meeting the country’s debt obligations; Republicans have been equally adamant that Biden must make spending concessions.

One the eve of the president’s address, McCarthy challenged Biden to come to the negotiating table with House Republicans to slash spending as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

“Mr. President, it’s time to get to work,” McCarthy said in remarks from the speaker’s balcony at the Capitol.

While hopes for large-scale bipartisanship are slim, Biden was set to reissue his 2022 appeal for Congress to get behind his “unity agenda” of actions to address the opioid epidemic, mental health, veterans’ health and fighting cancer.

The speech comes days after Biden ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew brazenly across the country, captivating the nation and serving as a reminder of tense relations between the two global powers.

Last year’s address occured just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and as many in the West doubted Kyiv’s ability to withstand the onslaught. Over the past year, the U.S. and other allies have sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses. Now, Biden must make the case — both at home and abroad — for sustaining that coalition as the war drags on.

“The president will really want to reinforce just what a significant accomplishment has already been achieved and then to reinforce how much more has to be done, how we are committed to doing it, and how we will ask for a bipartisan basis the U.S. Congress to join us in doing that work,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday.

While COVID-19 has eased at home, Biden will turn his sights to other national ills, including the deadly opioid epidemic, gun violence and police abuses.

The president spent much of the weekend into Monday reviewing speech drafts with aides at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Senior White House adviser Anita Dunn will preview broad themes of Biden’s address to Democratic lawmakers throughout the day on Tuesday, starting with a breakfast with House Democrats on Capitol Hill.

McCarthy called on Biden to embrace the Republican effort to put the nation’s finances on a path toward a balanced budget, which would require deep and politically unpopular reductions in federal spending that Biden and Democrats have vehemently resisted.

“We must move towards a balanced budget and insist on genuine accountability for every dollar we spend,” McCarthy said.

He insisted cuts to Medicare and Social Security, the popular health and retirement programs primarily for older Americans, were “off the table” in any budget negotiation. The GOP leader also said “defaulting on our debt is not an option.”

The White House has insisted Republicans cannot be trusted to protect the programs and blasted Republicans for “threatening to actively throw our economy into a tailspin with a default” by putting conditions on the debt limit.

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the State of the Union address at: https://apnews.com/hub/state-of-the-union-address

The Russian military killed one particular civilian in Donetsk area on February 6.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated practically 133,190 Russian troops in Ukraine from February 24, 2022 to February 7, 2023, together with 1,030 Russian soldiers in excess of the past day alone.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The numbers have been drawn for an estimated $747 million Powerball jackpot and players must now wait to learn whether there is a big winner.

The numbers drawn late Monday night were 05, 11, 22, 23, 69 and the Powerball 07.

No one has won the jackpot since Nov. 19, 2022, allowing the prize to grow larger with each of the game’s three weekly drawings. It now stands as the ninth-largest in U.S. history.

Lottery officials normally take hours before announcing whether there has been a winning ticket sold.

The $747 million jackpot is for winners who opt for an annuity paid over 29 years. Higher interest rates have allowed those annuity payments to increase compared with earlier jackpots, when rates were lower.

Most winners prefer cash, which for Monday night’s drawing would be $403.1 million.

The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes drawing more players. That strategy certainly has worked recently, as someone in Maine won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions prize in January and a California player hit a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot last November. No one has claimed either of those prizes.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another intruder has breached the home of Air Force One, one of the nation’s most sensitive military bases, and this time a resident opened fire on the trespasser, Joint Base Andrews said in a statement late Monday.

During the incident, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. Monday, “a man gained unauthorized access to a JBA housing area,” Joint Base Andrews said in a statement posted to Twitter. “A resident discharged a firearm, security forces arrived on scene to apprehend the intruder and law enforcement is investigating the incident.”

Joint Base Andrews is home to the fleet of blue and white presidential aircraft, including Air Force One, Marine One and the “doomsday” 747 aircraft that can serve as the nation’s airborne nuclear command and control centers if needed.

The Air Force said late Monday it did not have anything to add beyond the Andrews statement about Monday’s intrusion.

It’s not the first time the base’s security has been breached; in February 2021 a man got through the military checkpoint onto the installation, then through additional fenced secure areas to gain access to the flight line and climb into a C-40, which is the military’s 737-equivalent aircraft used to fly government officials.

That intruder was apprehended because the “mouse ears” cap he was wearing struck an observant airman as odd.

An inspector general’s investigation found three main security failings, starting with “human error” by a gate security guard who allowed the man to drive onto the base even though he had no credentials that authorized his access. Hours later, the man walked undetected onto the flight line by slipping through a fence designed to restrict entry. Finally, he walked onto and off a parked airplane without being challenged, even though he was not wearing a required badge authorizing access to the restricted area.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024.

That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows just 37% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, down from 52% in the weeks before last year’s midterm elections.

While Biden has trumpeted his legislative victories and ability to govern, the poll suggests relatively few U.S. adults give him high marks on either. Follow-up interviews with poll respondents suggest that many believe the 80-year-old’s age is a liability, with people focused on his coughing, his gait, his gaffes and the possibility that the world’s most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger.

“I, honestly, think that he would be too old,” said Sarah Overman, 37, a Democrat who works in education in Raleigh, North Carolina. “We could use someone younger in the office.”

As the president gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he has a chance to confront fundamental doubts about his competence to govern. Biden has previously leaned heavily on his track record to say that he’s more than up to the task. When asked if he can handle the office’s responsibilities at his age, the president has often responded as if he’s accepting a dare: “Watch me.”

Democratic candidates performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections, a testament to Biden’s message that he is defending democracy and elevating the middle class. Democrats expanded their control of the Senate by one seat and narrowly lost their House majority even though history indicated there would be a Republican wave.

Overall, 41% approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, the poll shows, similar to ratings at the end of last year. A majority of Democrats still approve of the job Biden is doing as president, yet their appetite for a reelection campaign has slipped despite his electoral track record. Only 22% of U.S. adults overall say he should run again, down from 29% who said so before last year’s midterm elections.

The decline among Democrats saying Biden should run again for president appears concentrated among younger people. Among Democrats age 45 and over, 49% say Biden should run for reelection, nearly as many as the 58% who said that in October. But among those under age 45, 23% now say he should run for reelection, after 45% said that before the midterms.

Linda Lockwood, a Democrat and retiree from Kansas City, Kansas, said she is not that worried about Biden’s age.

“He seems to be in pretty good condition in my opinion and that’s coming from a 76-year-old woman,” Lockwood said. “You might be a little more careful going down the steps as you get older, but if your brain is still working, that’s the important part.”

Already the oldest president in U.S. history, Biden has been dogged by questions about his age as he would be 86 if he serves a full eight years as president. He often works long days, standing for hours, remembering the names of strangers he meets while traveling who want to share a story about their lives with him.

Yet he’s been a national political figure for a half-century, having first been elected to the Senate from Delaware in 1972, and the moments when he appears lost on stage or stumbles through speeches can garner more attention than his policies.

On CNN on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, acknowledged that “generational arguments can be powerful.”

“The most powerful argument of all is results,” said Buttigieg, 41. “And you can’t argue — at least, I would say you can’t argue with a straight face that it isn’t a good thing that we have had 12 million jobs created under this president.”

Voters like Ross Truckey, 35, have been watching the president carefully. A lawyer in Michigan, Truckey did not vote for Biden or Republican Donald Trump in 2020. He feels as though Biden has been the latest in a string of “subpar” presidents.

“His age and possibly his mental acuity is not where I would want the leader of the country to be,” Truckey said. “He, at times, appears to be an old man who is past his prime. Sometimes I feel a little bit of pity for the guy being pushed out in front of crowds.”

Biden has repeatedly emphasized in speeches that it’s essential for the public to know the totality of what his administration is doing. It’s notched four big legislative victories with coronavirus relief, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and tax and spending measures that help to address climate change and improve the IRS’ ability to enforce the tax code and help taxpayers.

Yet just 13% have a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to accomplish major policy goals, a possible reflection of the fact that he must now work with a Republican majority in the House that wants to cut spending in return for lifting the government’s legal borrowing authority.

The poll also shows only 23% of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” of confidence in Biden to effectively manage the White House. That has ticked down from 28% a year ago and remains significantly lower than 44% two years ago, just as Biden took office.

Just 21% have a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to handle a crisis, down slightly from 26% last March.

On working with congressional Republicans and managing government spending, roughly half of U.S. adults say they have hardly any confidence in the president, and only around 1 in 10 say they have high confidence.

Republican voters are unwilling to give Biden the benefit of the doubt, hurting his ratings.

John Rodriguez, 76, backed Trump and assumes that Biden is merely doing the bidding of his aides. That creates a challenge for a president who promised to unite the country.

“I believe he’s not the one who’s calling the shots,” said Rodriguez, who lives in Cutler Bay, Florida. “He’s a puppet being told where to go, what to say.”

But the key obstacle for Biden might be voters such as Vikram Joglekar, 46, who works in the computer industry in Austin, Texas. He backed the president in 2020, only to summarize his feelings about Biden’s time in office as “meh.”

“It’s not up for me to decide whether someone should run or not,” Joglekar said. “I don’t know who is going to be on the ballot, but I would hope it would be someone better from his party.”

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The poll of 1,068 adults was conducted Jan. 26-30 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.