Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ Popularity Plummets Amid Ethics Scandals Over Gifts From Billionaire

A recent USA Today/Ipsos poll has unveiled a significant decline in the public’s perception of Republican Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The survey, conducted from August 2-4, 2023, with 1,024 respondents, has painted a grim picture of Thomas’s reputation among the American electorate.

According to the poll, Thomas’s net favorability has nosedived and landed at a negative 15 percentage points. This represents a staggering 24-point drop from his positive nine-point net favorability in April 2022, a decline largely driven by the soured views of Democrats and independents.

Among Democrats, Thomas’s net favorability has plummeted from a negative 19 percentage points in 2022 to a dismal negative 63 percentage points. Only 9% of Democrats now view him favorably, while an impressive 72% view him unfavorably. The story is similar among independents, where his net favorability has dropped from a positive six percentage points to a negative 14 points.

Even among Republicans, Thomas has seen a 10-point dip in support and his net favorability declined from a positive 43 points two years ago to a positive 33 points this month.

The poll’s findings come amid a wave of reporting on Thomas’ financial disclosures and the controversy around his acceptance of luxury trips and gifts from a billionaire megadonor. Additionally, Thomas‘ wife’s involvement in the “Stop the Steal” movement, which denied the 2020 election results, has further fueled public scrutiny and calls for his recusal in related cases.

The recent poll also reveals a broader trend among the Supreme Court’s conservative justices, with all of them experiencing a decline in their net favorability ratings by at least 10 percentage points. In contrast, the three liberal justices on the court all maintain positive favorability ratings, ranging from 11 to 16 percentage points.