Ipsos Core Political : Presidential Approval Tracker (03/02/2022)

Washington, DC, March 2, 2022 – This week’s Ipsos’ Core Political, fielded February 28 – March 1, before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, finds Americans increasingly concerned about war and foreign conflict as their approval of Joe Biden’s presidential performance remains stable. A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll also fielded February 28 through March 1, 2022, finds that over the last week, perceptions of Biden’s handling of Russia (40%, +8) and Ukraine (43%, +9) have improved, although sentiment remains mostly negative.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (61%) believe the country is off on the wrong track, a sentiment felt most strongly by Republicans (86%) and independents (60%). Only one-quarter of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction, with Democrats (47%) most likely to agree with that sentiment.

The economy, unemployment, and jobs remains the most important issue facing the country (22%). The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that over half (58%) of Americans agree that paying more for fuel and gas because of sanctions against Russia is worthwhile to defend another democratic country but most remain hesitant to take military action in Ukraine given the current economic climate (56%). Relatedly, concern over war and foreign conflict (14%) has increased nine points since last week (5%) and hasn’t been this high since early January 2020 when it seemed the U.S. was on the brink of war with Iran (13% on Jan 6-7, 2020). The environment and climate (8%) comes in third place, followed by a number of other issues all tied for fourth place.

Independents, Republicans, and Democrats (26%, 22%, and 20%, respectively) all agree that the economy is the top issue facing the country. For independents, war and foreign conflict (15%) is the second most important issue, followed by the healthcare system (9%). For Republicans, immigration (15%) just edges out war and foreign conflict (14%) for second place and for Democrats, the environment and climate (13%) does the same to war and foreign conflict (12%).

President Joe Biden’s approval rating remains stable at 43% this week.

President Biden continues to receive the most support from his Democratic base (76%), followed by 37% of independents, but only 14% of Republicans.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between February 28 and March 1, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 426 Democrats, 389 Republicans, and 118 independents. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 5.8 percentage points for Democrats, ± 6.1 percentage points for Republicans, and ± 11.0 percentage points for independents.  

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Annaleise Lohr
Director, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third-largest Insights and Analytics company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts, and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions, and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers, or employees. We serve more than 5,000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.