Poll: Americans' Confidence in SCOTUS Is at a Record Low

Gallup says it has plunged to just 25%
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2022 4:59 AM CDT
Gallup Says Confidence in SCOTUS Is at a Record Low
The rear of the Supreme Court building in Washington, Thursday, June 23, 2022.   (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

With the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, Americans' confidence in the country's top court has fallen to a record law, according to the latest Gallup poll. The pollsters say just 25% of Americans have "quite a lot" or a "great deal" of confidence in the court, down 11 points from a year ago. It's the lowest number in polling going back to 1973, the year of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, when confidence was at 45%. The previous low was in 2014, when confidence in the court was at 30%. The highest figure over the last 49 years was 56%, recorded in 1985 and 1988.

Gallup says the poll was carried out from June 1 to 20, weeks after the leak of the draft decision on abortion rights. With a conservative supermajority in place, pollsters say only 13% of Democrats have high confidence in the top court, CNN reports. Confidence among independent voters has dived from 40% to 25% year-on-year, according to Gallup, while among Republicans, it has edged up from 37% to 39%. In a poll taken in 2020, before Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as then-President Donald Trump's third SCOTUS pick, the figure for Republicans was 53%. Gallup says confidence in the court among Republicans hit a record low of 26% in 2010. (More US Supreme Court stories.)

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