According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, Americans’ views of the Supreme Court have reached a historically low point, marked by a dramatic decline in favorability among Democrats and an unprecedented level of political polarization.
The survey, which polled 7,647 adults between August 1 and 14, found that just 28% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents view the court favorably, a drop of 18 percentage points since January and nearly 40 points since 2020. In contrast, positive views of the court among Republicans and Republican leaners have increased modestly, with 73% now holding a favorable opinion. As a result, the gap in favorable views between the two parties has grown to 45 percentage points, the widest in 35 years of polling on the court.
The survey also found that the public overall is divided in its views of the court, with 48% holding a favorable view and 49% holding an unfavorable view. This represents a decline in positive opinions of the court since August 2020, when 70% of Americans held a favorable view.
The decline in favorability can be largely attributed to the court’s recent term, which saw several high-profile cases, including the controversial ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which ended the federal guarantee of the right to abortion. The cases often split the justices along largely ideological lines, and appear to have driven a transformation in Democrats’ views of the court.
The survey also revealed wide partisan divisions in overall attitudes toward the Supreme Court, as well as contrasting views on the court’s power and ideology. Today, 45% of U.S. adults say the court has too much power, an increase of 15 percentage points since January, while 48% say the court has the “right amount of power” and just 5% say the court has too little power. While Republicans largely say that the court has the right amount of power, nearly two-thirds of Democrats say the court has too much power, an increase from 40% in January.
Growing shares of Democrats also say the Supreme Court has a conservative tilt, with 67% expressing this opinion today, up from 57% in January. Additionally, Democrats have grown more skeptical of whether Supreme Court justices keep their own personal bias out when deciding major cases. About half of Democrats now say the justices on the court are doing a poor job of keeping their own political views out of their judgments on major cases, nearly double the share who said this in January.
Views of the justices’ impartiality among Republicans are also divided, with a third saying the justices are doing at least a good job keeping their own political views out of how they decide major cases, while a slightly larger share say the justices are doing an only fair or poor job. Another 15% of Republicans say they are unsure whether Supreme Court justices eliminate their personal bias when deciding major cases.
The survey’s findings paint a picture of a nation deeply divided in its views of the highest court in the land, with an unprecedented level of polarization and a growing mistrust of the court’s impartiality among a significant portion of the population.
