Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s favorability with the public has cratered in the past two years, amid a wave of reporting about his financial disclosures and, particularly, gifts from wealthy donors, a USA Today/Ipsos poll published Monday revealed.
Thomas’s net favorability sits in the new survey at negative 15 percentage points — 27 percent favorable to 42 percent unfavorable — down 24 points from a net positive of 9 points in April 2022.
The decline was driven largely by Democrats’ and independents’ souring views.
In 2022, Thomas’s net favorability among Democrats was negative 19 percentage points, but it has plummeted to negative 63 percentage points: only 9 percent favorable to 72 percent unfavorable.
Among independents, Thomas’s net favorability dropped from a positive 6 percentage points to negative 14 points.
The justice saw a 10-point dip in support from Republicans as well, from a net favorability of positive 43 points two years ago to positive 33 points this month.
Thomas has faced intense scrutiny in the past two years, amid reports of him accepting luxury trips and gifts from a billionaire and Republican mega-donor.
And his wife’s involvement in the “Stop the Steal” movement that denied President Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election prompted calls for Thomas’s recusal in related cases that came before the Supreme Court. His refusal to recuse himself angered some Democrats.
The recent poll shows all conservative justices declining in their net favorability ratings by at least 10 points. All currently have negative net favorability, when none did in 2022. Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s net favorability was the lowest in 2022, at 0 percentage points.
The three liberal justices on the court all have positive favorability ratings between 11 percentage points and 16 percentage points.
The poll was conducted from Aug. 2-4 and included 1,024 respondents, including 282 Republicans, 324 Democrats and 310 independents. The margin of error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.