By Jessica Gresko and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

April 24, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans approve than disapprove of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court as its first Black female justice, a new poll finds, but that support is politically lopsided. And a majority of Black Americans — but fewer white and Hispanic Americans — approve of her confirmation.

Overall, 48% of Americans say they approve and 19% disapprove of Jackson’s confirmation to the high court according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The remaining 32% of Americans hold no opinion.

Jackson’s nomination fulfilled a campaign promise by President Joe Biden to name a Black woman to the court if given the opportunity. The findings suggest the confirmation did more to energize Biden’s Democratic base than it did to energize Republicans in opposition, despite vocal resistance from some GOP lawmakers who were largely united in voting against her April 7 confirmation. Three Republican senators broke with their party to confirm her with a 53-47 tally.

Eighty percent of Democrats and only 18% of Republicans approve of Jackson’s confirmation to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Among Republicans, though, fewer than half — 43% — say they disapprove of the Harvard law graduate’s confirmation. An additional 37% of Republicans hold neither opinion. Only 5% of Democrats disapprove; 15% say they hold neither opinion.

It’s not unusual for a relatively high share of Americans to express no opinion about a justice’s confirmation. In October 2018, after the vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh following a rancorous confirmation marked by sexual assault allegations, 35% approved, 43% disapproved and 20% said they held neither opinion. And in October 2020, before the vote to confirm conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the seat of the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 30% were in favor to her being confirmed, 35% were opposed and 34% said they held neither opinion.

Jackson, 51, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, will join the court this summer when Breyer steps down. She will become the third Black person to sit on the court, following the late Justice Thurgood Marshall and current Justice Clarence Thomas. The court will for the first time have four women members and two Black members while white men will make up a minority of the court.

“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Jackson said in remarks at the White House after her confirmation. “But we’ve made it. We’ve made it, all of us.”

Kimberly Brown, 41, is among those who approve of Jackson’s confirmation. Brown, who lives in New York and works in health care, is an independent who leans Democratic and called Jackson’s confirmation “historic.”

“I just feel like it’s a historic moment to see a Black woman nominated, and then to also be confirmed to the Supreme Court, which has never been done,” said Brown, who is Black. “I’m just excited that she’s able to take all of the knowledge and skills that she’s developed over the course of her career and education and apply it … in a seat on the highest court.”

Brown said she watched some of Jackson’s hearings and felt Jackson “presented herself really well,” answering questions from lawmakers thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Jackson’s hearings were marked by intense lines of questioning from some Republican senators ranging from her sentencing record on child pornography cases to her views on teaching books on critical race theory in the classroom.

The poll shows about half of Americans, including about a quarter of Republicans, disapprove of how GOP senators handled the confirmation process; only about 2 in 10 of Americans approve. Nearly twice as many Americans approve of how Senate Democrats handled the process. Still, about a third of Americans say they don’t have an opinion either way for Republicans or Democrats.

Unlike Brown, Republican Gail Thompson, 77, of Washington state, said she felt Jackson was evasive in answering Republican lawmakers’ questions. Thompson, a retired medical assistant, said she also believed Jackson is “soft on crime.”

“I don’t agree with what she’s done,” said Thompson, who is white. “And I’m really sad that she’s been appointed.”

Brown and Thompson reflect not only the partisan divide but also something of a racial divide over Jackson’s confirmation. Among Black Americans, 63% approve and 18% disapprove of Jackson’s confirmation. Black voters were among the keys to Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election — about 9 in 10 supported him, according to AP VoteCast — but his approval rating among Black Americans has dipped substantially in AP-NORC polls conducted since his inauguration.

Approval of Jackson’s confirmation is lower among white and Hispanic Americans, at 46% and 41%, respectively, though similar percentages across racial and ethnic groups disapprove. Many white and Hispanic Americans say they hold neither opinion.

Overall, more Americans say they approve than disapprove of how Biden handled Jackson’s confirmation, 42% to 33%. About 8 in 10 Democrats approve; about two-thirds of Republicans disapprove.

Biden’s immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, nominated three conservative justices to the court — Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett — giving the court a 6-3 conservative advantage, which Jackson’s appointment will not change. Biden’s one-time boss, former President Barack Obama, nominated two justices — Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, who is the court’s first Latina justice.

The new poll shows confidence in the Supreme Court remains low, according to the poll, but is similar to what it was in a February AP-NORC poll. Eighteen percent of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in the high court, and 54% have some confidence. An additional 27% say they have hardly any confidence.

Republicans and Democrats have similar levels of confidence in the court. Views also are similar across race and ethnicity groups.

By Amanda Seitz and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

April 28, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of U.S. adults say misinformation around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major problem, and they largely fault the Russian government for spreading those falsehoods.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 61% of people in the United States say the spread of misinformation about the war is a major problem, with only 7% saying it’s not a problem. Older adults were more likely to identify the wartime misinformation as an issue, with 44% of those under 30 calling it a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older.

Misleading social media posts, fake pictures or videos and propagandized headlines have proliferated on websites, from TikTok to Facebook, since Russia’s assault on Ukraine began in February. In recent weeks, Russian state media and social media accounts have operated in lockstep to push tweets, TV reports and posts that claim photos of bombed buildings and bodies across Ukraine have been staged or faked. Even well-meaning, everyday social media users have fallen victim to the falsehoods, accidentally sharing or liking posts and images that turned out to be inaccurate.

About three-quarters of the American public fault the Russian government for advancing misinformation around the war, while many also blame social media users, tech companies and the news media. Far fewer place a great deal of blame on the Ukrainian or U.S. governments.

Russia’s falsehoods about the war are finding millions of eyeballs across social media and in state-media reports. Earlier this month, for example, a chorus of Kremlin media reports, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and Telegram channels tried to refute photographs and satellite images of bodies left by Russian soldiers in the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, by calling the images a “hoax.”

“Russia’s reach is broad,” said Darren Linvill, a Clemson University professor who studies disinformation. “They have a lot of different outlets that they use — everything from state media, in Russian, English and especially Spanish.”

The poll shows a majority of U.S. residents, about 57%, say they think Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed Russian troops to commit war crimes, while 6% say they think he has not done so. An additional 36% say they don’t know enough to say.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the AP and the PBS series “Frontline” have verified evidence of 178 potential war crimes.

The poll shows about 6 in 10 Americans say social media users have significant responsibility for the spread of misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Roughly half also fault social media companies and the news media.

Retiree Kellie Carroll, 58, who lives outside Fresno, California, said she is sometimes frustrated by social media users who share posts about the Russia-Ukraine war but don’t cite the source of their information.

“You’ll see things that people are stating as fact, like they are there,” Carroll said of posts she’s seen on social media around the war.

Carroll, who watches local news and listens to conservative talk radio, added that she, too, finds fault with news reporting on the war. She described it as difficult to find news reports around the war that are not injected with opinion.

“I don’t want the opinions, I just want the facts,” she said.

Half of Americans also blame the Chinese government, which has refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine, for spreading misinformation around the war.

Indeed, China’s state-run media outlets have made at least 74 English-language Facebook posts referencing a conspiracy theory that the U.S. is running secret biological warfare labs in Ukraine that have intentionally released deadly viruses, according to a new report from NewsGuard, a technology firm that monitors misinformation. (The U.S. runs biolabs in Ukraine. It’s not a secret, and they’re not crafting bioweapons there.)

“A lot of this is definitely geared toward the United States,” said Jack Brewster, an analyst for the firm. “They’re echoing the same talking points that Russia is.”

Somewhat fewer blame the spread of war misinformation on U.S. politicians, with 44% saying they bear significant responsibility and 32% saying the same about the U.S. government.

Roger Beaulieu, a 66-year-old New Yorker, said the Russian government is responsible for much of the misinformation around the war. But he’s been surprised when he reads The New York Times or watches MSNBC or CNN to see what he describes as misinformation coming from some Republican lawmakers about the war. Beaulieu specifically mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who last month said that Ukraine invited Russia’s invasion by “poking the bear.”

“It just seems that there’s more support for Russia than I can possibly understand,” Beaulieu said.

Large majorities of Democrats and Republicans say Russia has a large share of responsibility for spreading misinformation, and 70% of Democrats along with 55% of Republicans say Putin has directed Russian troops to commit war crimes. About a quarter of Democrats and roughly a third of Republicans say they don’t know.

But Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say social media companies (63% vs. 50%), the news media (61% vs. 38%) and politicians in the U.S. (52% vs. 38%) also bear a significant amount of blame for misinformation about the war.

About a quarter of Americans overall said the Ukrainian government is significantly responsible for the spread of misinformation. Republicans were more likely to say the Ukrainian government had significant blame for spreading misinformation than Democrats, 32% to 15%. About 4 in 10 Americans say the Ukrainian government has little responsibility for the spread of misinformation.

By Annie D’Innocenzio | The Associated Press

May 8, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — Last summer, Julio Carmona started the process of weaning himself off a fully remote work schedule by showing up to the office once a week.

The new hybrid schedule at his job at a state agency in Stratford, Connecticut, still enabled him to spend time cooking dinner for his family and taking his teenage daughter to basketball.

But in the next few months, he’s facing the likelihood of more mandatory days in the office. And that’s creating stress for the father of three.

Carmona, 37, whose father died from COVD-19 last year, worries about contracting the virus but he also ticks off a list of other anxieties: increased costs for lunch and gas, day care costs for his newborn baby, and his struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

“Working from home has been a lot less stressful when it comes to work-life balance,” said Carmona, who works in finance at Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families. “You are more productive because there are a lot less distractions.”

As more companies mandate a return to the office, workers must readjust to pre-pandemic rituals like long commutes, juggling child care and physically interacting with colleagues. But such routines have become more difficult two years later. Spending more time with your colleagues could increase exposure to the coronavirus, for example, while inflation has increased costs for lunch and commuting.

Among workers who were remote and have gone back at least one day a week in-person, more say things in general have gotten better than worse and that they’ve been more productive rather than less, an April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows. But the level of stress for these workers is elevated.

Overall, among employed adults, the April AP-NORC poll shows 16% say they work remotely, 13% work both remotely and in-person and 72% say they work only in-person.

Thirty-nine percent of employees who had worked at home but have returned to the office say the way things are going generally has gotten better since returning in-person at the workplace, while 23% say things have gotten worse; 38% say things have stayed the same. Forty-five percent say the amount of work getting done has improved, while 18% say it’s worsened.

But 41% of returned workers say the amount of stress they experience has worsened; 22% say it’s gotten better and 37% say it hasn’t changed.

Even workers who have been in person throughout the pandemic are more negative than positive about the way the pandemic has impacted their work lives. Thirty-five percent say the way things are going in general has gotten worse, while 20% say it’s gotten better. Fifty percent say their stress has worsened, while just 11% say it’s gotten better; 39% say there’s no difference.

At least half of in-person workers say balancing responsibilities, potential COVID exposure at work, their commute and social interaction are sources of stress. But fewer than a third call these “major” sources of stress.

People with children were more likely to report their return was having an adverse effect, some of it stemming from concerns about keeping their families safe from COVID and maintaining a better work-life balance. Most said it could help alleviate stress if their employer provided more flexible work options and workplace safety precautions from the virus. But for some workers, a physical return — in any form — will be hard to navigate.

“A lot of people have gotten accustomed to working from home. It’s been two years,” said Jessica Edwards, national director of strategic alliances and development at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a U.S.-based advocacy group. “For companies, it’s all about prioritizing mental health and being communicative about it. They should not be afraid of asking their employees how are they really doing.”

Companies like Vanguard are now expanding virtual wellness workshops that started in the early days of the pandemic or before. They’re also expanding benefits to include meditation apps and virtual therapy. Meanwhile, Target, which hasn’t set a mandatory return, is giving teams the flexibility of adjusting meeting times to earlier or later in the day to accommodate employees’ schedules.

A lot is at stake. Estimates show that untreated mental illness may cost companies up to $300 billion annually, largely due to impacts on productivity, absenteeism, and increases in medical and disability expenses, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Russ Glass, CEO of online mental health and wellbeing platform Headspace Health, said he has seen a fourfold spike in the use of behavioral health coaching and a fivefold spike in clinical services like therapy and psychiatric help during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic days. With apps like Ginger and Headspace, the company serves more than 100 million people and 3,500 companies. Among the top worries: anxiety over contracting COVID-19, and struggles with work-life balance.

“We haven’t seen it abate. That level of care has just stayed high,” Glass said.

The constant wave of new virus surges hasn’t helped.

Francine Yoon, a 24-year-old food scientist at Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition North America, in Itasca, Illinois, has been working mostly in person since the pandemic, including at her current job that she started last fall. Yoon said her company has helped to ease anxiety by doing things like creating huddle rooms and empty offices to create more distance for those experiencing any form of anxiety about being in close proximity to colleagues.

But moving in last year with her older parents, both in their early 60s, has led to some heightened level of anxiety because she’s worried about passing on the virus to them. She said every surge of new cases creates some anxiety.

“When cases are low, I feel comfortable and confident that I am OK and that I will be OK,” she said. ’When surges occur, I can’t help but become cautious.”

As for Carmona, he’s trying to lower his stress and is considering participating in his office’s online meditation sessions. He’s also thinking of carpooling to reduce gas costs.

“I am one of those people that take it day by day,” he said. “You have to try to keep your stress level balanced because you will run your brain into the ground thinking about things that could go haywire.”

Hannah Fingerhut and Ronald Blum | The Associated Press

April 6, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — About 1 in 4 fans of Major League Baseball feel at least some anger toward the sport after its first work stoppage in a generation, according to a new poll, but the vast majority are still excited about the new season.

Only 27% of Americans say they are currently a fan of MLB, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll also finds 32% of Americans 45 and older say they currently are fans, but only 22% of younger adults say they are, a trend MLB management says it is working to reverse.

Even among fans, few were very attuned to the 99-day lockout that delayed the start of the season from March 31 until Thursday or say that it had a major impact on their views of MLB.

Jason Timmons grew up watching the Chicago Cubs and was following closely when they won the World Series in 2016, but he said he didn’t know they would be starting their season Thursday because “the whole labor thing kind of turned me off.”

The poll shows three-quarters of fans say they’re at least somewhat excited about the upcoming season, and even more say they’re at least somewhat interested. Still, 28% of fans are at least somewhat angry and 39% are at least somewhat frustrated following the dispute, in which management and players vented their criticism of each other during weeks when the start of spring training was delayed.

“They’re always bickering about their labor,” Timmons said. “And it’s like, you’re just playing baseball. I mean, there’s other things going on in the world that’s more important than bickering about what they’re bickering about.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred apologized to fans when the labor agreement was reached on March 10. Union head Tony Clark said several times during the dispute that management chose to institute the work stoppage as a strategy.

For some, the lockout was only further evidence of what they were already feeling. The poll shows 22% of Americans say they used to be MLB baseball fans but are not anymore. Donald Joy is among them.

“I used to play baseball, I used to be a fan of it, but I’ve gotten away from it because of all of the nonsense,” said Joy, a 70-year-old from Bailey, Colorado. “People claiming to be slaves when they’re making $20 million a year.”

Joy lamented the growing costs for fans, from the price of a ticket to go to a game to the cost of a hot dog at the stadium.

“You get to a point where it’s not about the fans anymore,” Joy said. “It’s become a rich man’s sport. It is not for the masses.”

But some fans were sympathetic to the players, especially those competing at levels below the major league level.

While Timmons was frustrated by what he saw as bickering amongst billionaires, he also focused in on the owners’ role in the months-long negotiations.

“I didn’t like them locking them out for no reason at the end of last year and doing what they did,” he said. “I thought the owners were being petty, and then you know they don’t want to negotiate with the players. I mean, it’s just ridiculous.”

“I don’t begrudge the players more money at all,” said Mary O’Connell, a 67-year-old Yankees fan from Las Cruces, New Mexico. “The owners have got tons. I have no concerns about management’s poor sob story now.”

Major league players were angry that big league payrolls fell from $4.2 billion to $4.05 billion during the five-year labor deal that expired after the 2021 season. The new agreement lifted the major league minimum from $570,500 to $700,000 and devotes a new $50 million bonus pool each year to younger players at the lower range of salaries.

The contract also raised salaries for players on 40-man rosters assigned to the minor leagues, from $46,600 to $57,200 for a first-time contract, but other minor league players aren’t represented by the union.

Only 13% of current baseball fans say they followed lockout news “extremely” or “very” closely. Thirty percent said they followed somewhat closely, but 57% said they did not closely follow lockout developments.

Only 8% of baseball fans said the lockout had a major impact of their views of the sport, though another 39% said it had a minor impact. Baseball fans who followed news about the lockout were especially likely to say it had an impact on them, compared with those who didn’t, 64% to 34%.

Despite some frustration, the vast majority of baseball fans say they feel at least somewhat excited about and interested in the upcoming season. Fans that followed the lockout closely are especially excited.

“I enjoy just watching the game and don’t really focus on the political side of it, management, all that,” said Ronald Ellis, a 60-year-old Houston fan from Lake Charles, Louisiana. “I’m excited to see how the Astros will do this year.”

By Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

July 1, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll finds a growing percentage of Americans calling out abortion or women’s rights as priorities for the government in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, especially among Democrats and those who support abortion access.

With midterm elections looming, President Joe Biden and Democrats will seek to capitalize on that shift.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in remarks immediately after the decision that “reproductive freedom is on the ballot in November.” But with pervasive pessimism and a myriad of crises facing the nation, it’s not clear whether the ruling will break through to motivate those voters — or just disappoint them.

“It does feel like a major setback,” said 26-year-old Lauren Nelson of San Diego, who has been worrying about the environment her young niece will grow up in. She doesn’t think the midterms will change the course that states are on. “You can’t help but feel kind of helpless, as though there’s not much that can be done.”

Twenty-two percent of U.S. adults name abortion or women’s rights in an open-ended question as one of up to five problems they want the government to work on, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s more than doubled since December, when an AP-NORC poll found a notable uptick in mentions of abortion from years before, likely in anticipation of the Dobbs ruling on abortion.

The new poll, which included interviews conducted before and after the Supreme Court’s ruling, finds prioritization of the issues grew sharply following the decision.

The Dobbs ruling kicks decision-making on abortion back to states, and in the last week, Republican governors and legislatures have moved to introduce or advance legislation that bans or curtails abortions.

Polling conducted before the decision showed it was unpopular with a majority of Americans, who wanted to see the court leave Roe as is. A majority of Americans support abortion access in general, though many say there should be restrictions. About a third say abortion should be legal in all cases, roughly another third legal in most cases, about a quarter illegal in most cases. About 1 in 10 say it should be illegal in all cases.

Mentions of abortion specifically are not limited to Americans who support abortion rights; instead, the poll shows abortion is named as a priority by roughly a quarter of adults with hardline opinions on both sides of the issue — those who think abortion should be legal in all cases and those who think abortion should be illegal in all cases.

Earnestine Smith, a 68-year-old resident of Waukegan, Illinois, said the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe represents progress. The issue is one of her highest priorities right now.

“We want abortion abolished and done away with,” she said. “We got to stand up and say no.”

Still, it’s significant that those with the most liberal views on abortion and those with the most conservative views are about equally likely to prioritize the issue; historically, research has shown opponents of abortion have been more likely to consider the issue important to them than those supporting abortion access.

And the new poll finds mentions of women’s rights are almost exclusively by those who think abortion should be legal.

According to the poll, the percentage of women prioritizing abortion or women’s rights was already higher in interviews conducted before the ruling than six months ago, 21% vs. 9% in December; it swelled to 37% in the days after. Mentions grew sharply among men, too, but the growth was concentrated in the wake of the ruling, from 6% in interviews conducted before to 21% after.

Lyle Gist said he wouldn’t have thought of abortion as a top priority a few years ago. The court decision to overturn Roe, though unsurprising, makes it a major issue.

“I think the ramifications of this are substantial,” said 36-year-old Gist of Los Angeles. Gist thinks that there will be ripple effects, including a “mass exodus” of people moving out of states with abortion bans.

In a small town in Louisiana in 1968, when abortion was illegal, Anne Jones carried a pregnancy to term and gave her daughter up for adoption. Jones, now 74 in Plano, Texas, worries about what the Republican Party might go after next — like birth control — and thinks it’s hypocritical that lawmakers like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott want to “hold the woman accountable for the child that she may not be able to afford to keep” even as they limit health and social services for women and children.

“Politics in Texas has taken a wrong turn,” she said. She wants to see abortion access made national law but remains skeptical that Biden and Democrats can do so.

The poll shows these issues have been increasingly important to Democrats, growing from just 3% in 2020 to 13% in 2021 and now 33%. In interviews before the ruling, 18% of Democrats mentioned abortion or women’s rights; that was 42% after.

Among Republicans, 11% identify abortion or women’s rights as a priority in the new poll, a modest increase from 5% who said that in December.

Steven Lefemine, who protests outside the Planned Parenthood in Columbia, South Carolina, called Roe’s reversal a “major benchmark” but said lawmakers needed to do much more, including pursuing a constitutional amendment to protect unborn children.

“I’d like to see legislation that lives up to God’s word,” he said.

Biden and Democrats have vowed to fight for abortion access, but they’ve struggled with how to act given crippling opposition from Republicans in a sharply divided Senate. Biden said to reporters on Thursday that he would support an exception to the filibuster rule to codify Roe into law.

Roderick Hinton, who voted for Biden, wants to see the president move on court reform, saying the court’s decisions “are not matching today’s time.” He was angry after the court overturned Roe — that the older generation is “putting the screws” to younger Americans, including his two daughters.

Biden commissioned a review of the Supreme Court after promising to do so on the campaign trail, a response to rhetoric within the Democratic Party about expanding the court following former President Donald Trump’s three conservative appointments. The report released last year exercised caution about proposals to expand the court or set term limits.

“Their lifetime position is really crazy,” Hinton said. “As neutral as the courts were, it’s now becoming political. Their personal beliefs are being put in place.”