For our look at polling, public opinion, and the Supreme Court.
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Public faith in government has fallen to historic lows. The Supreme Court, however, appears to have bucked the trend. A number of recent polls demonstrate broad public support for the job the justices are doing, though this approval appears influenced by party alignment.
Surveys of public opinion on the court were released this month by Gallup and the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Marquette Law School released another yesterday. Although the results depend to some degree on how the questions are framed, the polls share two central findings: The Supreme Court enjoys an appreciable level of public support, and this support is higher among political conservatives.
Annenberg found that 68 percent of the public trusts the court to act in the public’s best interest, while Gallup found that a more modest 54 percent approve of the job the court is doing. Of respondents to the Marquette survey, 80 percent possess at least “some” confidence in the Supreme Court, while nearly 40 percent rank their confidence level at “quite a lot” or “a great deal.” Marquette also found that, of the three branches of government, 57 percent find the Supreme Court most trustworthy, compared with 22 percent for Congress and 21 percent for the president.
This confidence is split by ideology. According to Marquette’s poll, 52 percent of “very conservative” respondents have high confidence in the court, compared to 31 percent of “very liberal” voters – 36 percent of those “very liberal” voters report low confidence. Gallup found a drastic shift in these relative levels of support under President Donald Trump, with conservative support for the court nearly tripling since 2016 and liberal support reduced by more than half.
