Supreme Court approval mired at record low: Gallup

The Supreme Court’s approval rating remains at its record low of 40 percent, according to a new poll, which mirrors the rating measured in September before the start of the court’s eventful latest term.

In a Gallup poll conducted July 3-27, the weeks after the Supreme Court ended its work for the term and left for summer recess, 40 percent of respondents said they approved of the way the Supreme Court was handling its job.

The court’s approval rating was first recorded at that record low in September 2021. In July 2022, the rating ticked back up to 43 percent, before it fell again to 40 percent in September. 

Opinions of the court continue to be divided along partisan lines. In last month’s poll, 62 percent of Republicans said they approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, compared to 17 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of independents. 

These ratings were recorded after a monumental term for the Supreme Court. It struck down affirmative action in college admissions and President Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan and ruled business owners are permitted to refuse to work with gay and lesbian customers on free speech grounds. 

The high court also upheld the Voting Rights Act, invalidating Alabama’s congressional district map, and rejected state legislatures’ attempts to claim courts did not have a role in districting matters. 

Gallup first conducted a poll on Americans’ approval of the Supreme Court in 2000, when 62 percent of respondents approved of the court. From 2017 to mid-2021, Gallup reported the approval rating was 49 percent or higher. The rating took a hit in September 2021, dropping to 40 percent, following the Supreme Court’s decision to let a six-week abortion ban in Texas stand — a precursor to its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The survey was conducted by telephone with a random sample of 1,015 adults living in the United States. The margin of error is 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.