Does the president have the ability to set the congressional agenda? Agenda setting is a prerequisite for
influence, so this is an important element in understanding presidential–legislative relations. We focus
on the State of the Union address and show that popular presidents can, indeed, cause Congress to shift
attention to those topics most emphasized. The impact is tempered by divided government and time,
however. No matter the state of divided government, however, popular presidents can direct congressional
attention, at least for a little while. Unpopular presidents, by contrast, are irrelevant.
