Washington, DC, January 30, 2022One year into his administration, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that President Joe Biden has lost ground with the American public on a range of issues, but perhaps most impactfully, on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Views of the President, while still highly driven by partisan affiliation, have softened across segments of American society. This comes as the President is faced with new challenges and an ambivalent public. Particularly looking at the potential conflict in Ukraine, Americans are divided on if U.S. troops should be used to try to dissuade Russia. Likewise, on the Supreme Court, Americans are divided on the legal versus political nature of justices. However, a majority of Americans believe Biden should cast a wide net for potential new justices and not only consider Black women as he has pledged to do.

Detailed findings

1. Americans are divided on the Supreme Court and Biden’s handling of a new justice.

Americans are split on believing the Supreme Court decides cases “on the basis of law” (38%) versus “on the basis of their partisan political views” (43%).Republicans are more likely to believe law prevails (46% law, 33% partisan views) while Democrats are more likely to think politics prevail (32% law, 52% partisan views). Americans overwhelmingly believe Joe Biden should “consider all possible nominees” (76%) rather than “consider only nominees who are Black women, as he has pledged to do” (23%).Partisanship drives major differences in attitudes about the next Supreme Court pick, with virtually all Republicans saying “consider all” (95%) compared to only half of Democrats (54%).2. Americans are divided on potential involvement in Ukraine.

When asked if they would support or oppose “sending U.S. troops into Eastern Europe to try to discourage a Russian invasion of Ukraine”, Americans are split evenly between support (29%), opposition (38%), and indecision (32% don’t know).Democrats are slightly more supportive of U.S. engagement with Ukraine (41% support, 29% oppose) while Republicans are more in opposition (28% support, 46% oppose).3. President Biden continues to lose ground with the American public on a range of issues including response to the coronavirus and economic recovery.

One year after entering office, Biden has lost the approval of almost one in five Americans (19%) on his response to the coronavirus, dropping from 69% approve in January 2021 to 50% approve in January 2022.Views of Biden remain strongly tied to partisanship with four in five (82%) Democrats approving his handling of the pandemic versus less than one in five (16%) of Republicans.However, declines in approval are broad based. Biden has lost 15 points with Democrats (97% -> 82%), 24 points with Republicans (40% -> 16%), and 17 points with independents (70% -> 53%) from January 2021 to now.The President has lost similar levels of support on his handling of the economic recovery, down 18 points from 60% approve in March 2021 to 42% approve now.Public approval of other facets of Biden’s administration are also more negative than positive including two-thirds (69%) disapproving of his handling of gun violence, 69% disapproving his handling of inflation, 64% disapproving his handling of crime, and 64% disapproving his handling of immigration.4. Americans feel gloomy about the economy, despite positive macro-economic indicators.

Only one in four Americans (25%) would describe the nation’s economy as excellent or good.The large majority of Americans (75%) describe the economy as not so good (47%) or poor (28%).Partisanship drives some of the assessment with Democrats split (46% good, 53% not good) vs Republicans very critical (7% good vs 93% not good).