Our new survey is a wide-ranging look at Black Americans’ views of and experiences with science, spanning medical and health care settings, educational and professional settings, and experiences as consumers of science-related news and information.

Among these findings are the limits Black adults perceive regarding the openness of scientists, engineers and medical doctors to Black people in these professions. Relatively few Black adults believe that Black people have reached the highest levels of success as scientists (36%) or engineers (43%); a 55% majority say Black people have reached this level of success as medical doctors.

By contrast, large majorities of Black adults say Black people have reached the highest levels of success as professional athletes (84%) and musicians (80%). Six-in-ten say they have done this as lawyers and 58% say they have done this in the clergy.

Read more: Black Americans’ Views of and Engagement With Science

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a dramatic shift in American public opinion: 70% of Americans now consider Russia an enemy of the United States, up from 41% in January. 24% prefer to call Russia a competitor of the U.S., while just 3% of Americans see Russia as a partner, down from 7% in January.

Read more: Seven-in-Ten Americans Now See Russia as an Enemy

In 22 of 250 U.S. metropolitan areas, women under the age of 30 earn the same amount as or more than their male counterparts, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.

The New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles metropolitan areas are among the cities where young women are earning the most relative to young men. 

From a regional perspective, metropolitan areas in the Midwest tend to have wider gender wage gaps among young workers. Young women working full time, year-round in Midwestern metros earn about 90% of their male counterparts. In other regions, by comparison, young women earn 94% or more of what young men earn.

Read more: Young women are out-earning young men in several U.S. cities

Even with the midterm congressional elections still more than seven months away, Republican voters (70%) are more likely than Democratic voters (60%) to say it “really matters” which party gains control of Congress in this fall’s midterms. This differs from February 2018, when slightly more Democratic voters (67%) than Republican voters (65%) said it really mattered which party gained control.

Read more: Republicans More Likely Than Democrats To Say Partisan Control of Congress ‘Really Matters’

Amid growing global energy demand and rising carbon dioxide emissions, 69% of Americans say the United States should prioritize the development of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and take steps toward the country becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050.

A relatively small share of Americans (31%) believe the U.S. should phase out the use of oil, coal and natural gas completely; far more (67%) say the country should use a mix of fossil fuel and renewable energy sources.

Read more: Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050

Americans have encountered a number of changes to public health guidelines about how to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. over the past two years.

When asked how they’ve felt about these changes, confusion is the top reaction Americans express: 60% say they have felt confused by changes in recommendations on how to slow the spread of the coronavirus, up 7 percentage points from the share who said this in August 2021.

57% say changes in health officials’ recommendations on how to slow the spread made them wonder if public health officials were holding back important information. However, 56% say they’ve felt that these changes made sense because scientific knowledge is always being updated. Still, the share who say they’ve felt this way is down 5 points since last summer.

Read more: Increasing Public Criticism, Confusion Over COVID-19 Response in U.S.

As the coronavirus pandemic enters its third year, more Americans view strengthening the U.S. economy as a top policy priority for the president and Congress than say the same about dealing with COVID-19.

Currently, 71% of U.S. adults rate strengthening the economy as a top policy priority, followed by reducing health care costs (61%), addressing the coronavirus (60%), improving education (58%) and securing Social Security (57%).

Read more: Public’s Top Priority for 2022: Strengthening the Nation’s Economy

The rise in cases spurred by the omicron variant put renewed focus on vaccination rates in the U.S. as well as the role booster shots play in limiting the impacts from the coronavirus.

Overall, 78% of U.S. adults say they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including 73% who say they are fully vaccinated (5% say they’ve received one shot, but need one more). 

When it comes to booster shots, our new survey finds that 66% of adults who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 say they have also received a booster shot within the last six months. This group makes up 48% of all U.S. adults.

Read more: Increasing Public Criticism, Confusion Over COVID-19 Response in U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which typically attracts only modest attention from the American public, is about to occupy the national spotlight with the possibility of a history-making change among the court’s justices and a series of highly anticipated rulings on matters ranging from abortion to gun policy.

The court enters this pivotal period with its public image as negative as it has been in many years, as growing shares of Americans express unfavorable opinions of the court. Today, 54% of U.S. adults say they have a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court while 44% have an unfavorable view.

Read more: Public’s Views of Supreme Court Turned More Negative Before News of Breyer’s Retirement

The public’s views of the nation’s economy remain quite negative; just 28% say economic conditions are excellent or good. Overwhelming majorities say that prices for food and consumer goods (89%) and gas prices (82%) are worse than they were a year ago, with more than half saying they are “a lot” worse (60% food and consumer goods, 54% gas prices). However, a 56% majority says the availability of jobs has improved compared with a year ago.

Read more: Biden Starts Year Two With Diminished Public Support and a Daunting List of Challenges

Joe Biden began his presidency with positive job ratings and broad public confidence in his ability to deal with a number of major challenges – particularly the public health impact of the coronavirus. He starts his second year with diminished job approval and majorities expressing little or no confidence in him on many of these same issues, the coronavirus included.

Currently, 41% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s job performance, which is down slightly from September 2021 (44%) and substantially lower than last April (59%).

With the Omicron variant continuing to spread across the U.S., fewer than half of Americans (44%) now say they are somewhat confident in Biden to handle the coronavirus; that share is down 21 percentage points since March (65%).

Read more: Biden Starts Year Two With Diminished Public Support and a Daunting List of Challenges

Prospective homebuyers and renters across the United States have seen prices surge and supply plummet during the coronavirus pandemic. Amid these circumstances, about half of Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, up 10 percentage points from early 2018, according to a survey conducted in October 2021.

Another 36% of U.S. adults said in the fall that affordable housing availability is a minor problem in their community, while just 14% said it is not a problem.

Opinions on the question of housing affordability differ by a variety of demographic factors, including income, race and ethnicity, and age.

Read more: A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live