Supreme Court approval drops to 40 percent, hitting a new low: Gallup

Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court fell to a new low of 40 percent this month, according to a new poll released by Gallup on Thursday.

The surveys were conducted from Sept. 1-17, around the time the Supreme Court declined to block an extremely restrictive Texas abortion law as well as allow college vaccine mandates to continue, Gallup noted.

At 53 percent, a slight majority of respondents said they disapproved of the Supreme Court.

Since 2001, the high court’s approval rating has dipped as low as 42 percent in 2005 and 2017. In July 2020, the court had an approval rating of 49 percent, marking a drop of nearly 10 percentage points within the span of just a couple of months.

“Americans’ opinions of the Supreme Court are now the worst Gallup has measured in its polling on the institution over the past two-plus decades,” Gallup said. “At this point, less than a majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents approve of the job the court is doing. Barely half of Democrats and independents are confident in it, while confidence is slightly higher among Republicans.”

The survey also found a sharp decline in the amount of Americans who say they have confidence in the Supreme Court. In 2020, 67 percent said they had “a great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the judicial branch, but according to the more recent survey only 54 percent now say the same.

Gallup also noted this new low was recorded a little over a year after the court had an approval rating of 58 percent, just 3 percentage points shy of the highest approval rating it has seen with Gallup.

When it came to political opinions of the court, 40 percent of respondents said it was “Too conservative” while 20 percent said it was “Too liberal.” Of the remainder, 37 percent said the court was “about right.” Gallup noted that this appraisal was largely affected by individual political leanings, with Republican more likely to say that the court is “about right.”

The Gallup conducted a random survey of 1,005 adults in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.

Gallup’s poll follows a Quinnipiac University survey released last week that also found the Supreme Court had an all-time low approval rating, with only 37 percent saying they approved. This marked the lowest rating since Quinnipiac began recording approval ratings in 2004.