Report card: How has Trump fared on campaign promises

In front of the president Donald Trump His first State of the Union address since returning to the White House, his record on key campaign pledges is mixed, with some promises fulfilled while others remain on hold or tied up in legal challenges.

Trump’s 2024 campaign focused on immigration, the economy, comprehensive tariffs, and ending US involvement in foreign conflicts. More than a year into his second term, Republican and Democratic strategists alike told Fox News Digital that the administration has made great strides in some of those areas but has failed in others.

Meanwhile, voters see Trump as weak on the economy (40% approval), foreign policy (37% approval), and tariffs (37% approval), according to a survey report. Fox News poll last month. His approval rating is slightly higher on immigration at 44%, and a net positive rating of 52% when it comes to border security.

Border crossings are declining, but deportations remain controversial

One of Trump’s most important promises was to stop what he described as an “invasion” on the southern border by reducing illegal crossings and pursuing an aggressive deportation agenda.

Department of Homeland Security data since Trump took office shows a sharp decline in troop numbers Border crossings between ports of entry, an accomplishment Trump is likely to highlight in Tuesday’s speech.

But Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations on a historic scale remains controversial. ICE raids and enforcement initiatives, such as Operation Metro Surge, have not at this point removed the millions that Trump talked about during his campaign. Deportations have also been met with hundreds of lawsuits, leading to intensified scrutiny.

A federal law enforcement agent outside a home during a raid in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Julian Epstein, a Democratic consultant and former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, said Trump “secured the border, but did not adequately explain to the public his purpose and rationale for deportation.”

The Biden administration’s lax border policies amount to a “criminal undermining of federal immigration law” that Trump has completely reversed, said Theo Wold, a former assistant attorney general and Trump’s first White House policy officer. But he acknowledged that the controversy over deportations has cast a shadow over the administration’s efforts to enforce immigration laws.

“The work of removing hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens continues and will be an ongoing battle, as Democrats look to obstruct ICE’s progress,” Wold said. “But the ongoing battle over mass deportations has overshadowed new regulations President Trump has put in place to detect asylum fraud and ensure foreign work visas are not used to undermine American workers’ economic mobility.”

Epstein gave Trump an A-.

He gave Trump an A-.

Tariffs face setback in court, but Trump is changing course

Trump has pledged to impose heavy tariffs on imports from around the world to protect American manufacturing. But that plan took a hit when the Supreme Court ruled that he could not impose broad tariffs unilaterally on an emergency basis without congressional approval.

Undeterred, Trump announced a new set of global tariffs of 10% under a different legal authority, and the president has indicated he plans to raise that rate to 15%.

“He has good reason to claw back the middle-class losses of the last three decades, and that’s an honorable thing to do, but the policy was too diffuse, not targeted enough, and poorly explained to the public,” Epstein said.

The US economy grew slower than expected in the fourth quarter

President Donald Trump offers examples of non-reciprocal tariffs. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

Bradley Devlin, an editor at the conservative Daily Signal newspaper, said doomsday predictions about Trump’s tariffs have not come true.

“They claimed the tariffs would cause a recession,” Devlin said. “But for the first time in a long time, real wages for working Americans are rising.”

Epstein gave Trump a B grade.

Devlin gave Trump an A grade.

Foreign policy is in a constant state of flux

Regarding foreign policy, Trump has repeatedly indicated that he is capable of ending the war in Ukraine, but this has not been achieved. However, Trump’s other diplomatic efforts have been met with praise.

“He has fought eight wars, pushed us light years ahead of where Biden was in the Middle East, and is working to secure the Western Hemisphere by pressuring communist dictators in Venezuela and Cuba,” Epstein said.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves during an anti-government protest on January 9, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

Devlin said Trump’s threats to launch military strikes on Iran, which the president has said are aimed at forcing the country to negotiate over its nuclear program, are inconsistent with the message of peace.

“The two driving foreign policy issues of the 2024 campaign, brokering peace in the Russia-Ukraine war and ending the conflict in the Middle East, remain elusive,” Devlin said. “The president appears to be on the verge of a war with Iran that would make the American pivot away from the Middle East unachievable by the end of his term.”

Epstein gave Trump an A grade.

Devlin gave Trump a C+.

American economy

Economic prosperity was a staple of Trump’s campaign. Trump pledged to reduce inflation and boost domestic energy production. Latest government data It appears that inflation has actually declined, but it remains a point of concern.

Trump also pointed to the tax cuts passed under the Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping tax and spending law signed into law in July 2025, as a success tied to his agenda.

Epstein said the economy was “on the right track” but Trump had not fully addressed the concerns of an “anxious public.”

Elizabeth Pipko, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said economic growth under Trump has been “strong.”

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“Inflation is down, gas prices are down dramatically, wages are rising, and the progress made in one year has far exceeded what anyone could have predicted,” Bipko said.

Pipco gave Trump an A grade.

Epstein gave Trump a B+.

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