Publications

Joe Biden’s job rating is fairly comparable to Ronald Reagan’s (42%) and Bill Clinton’s (41%) at this stage of their presidencies.

The economy is clearly the top issue for voters; fully 79% say it will be very important to their voting decisions – the highest share among 18 issues included on the survey. The public continues to take a dim view of current economic conditions. Just 17% of U.S. adults say the economy is in excellent or good shape, little changed from the 13% who said this in July.

72% of U.S. adults say that, on the issues that matter to them, their side in politics has been losing more often than winning.

Americans express less concern than in the spring about Ukraine being defeated by Russia and about the war expanding into other countries.

Americans see capitalism as giving people more opportunity and more freedom than socialism, while they see socialism as more likely to meet people’s basic needs, though these perceptions differ significantly by party. Many Democrats say socialism meets people’s basic needs; Republicans say it restricts individual freedoms.

There are sizable ideological differences over the most pressing priorities for the U.S. immigration system within each partisan coalition.

Americans’ ratings of the Supreme Court are now as negative as – and more politically polarized than – at any point in more than three decades of polling. And nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) now say the Supreme Court has too much power, almost three times the share who said this in August 2020 (23%).

While the economy remains the dominant issue in this fall’s midterm elections, the issue of abortion has increased markedly in importance. More voters continue to view their midterm vote as an expression of opposition to Joe Biden than support for him. But across both parties, more voters now say Biden is not much of a factor in their vote.

Here’s how people in the U.S. and elsewhere have viewed the troop evacuation and its aftermath, and their broader attitudes about the war.

32% of Republicans say they like a political leader who has no previous government experience, compared with just 10% of Democrats.