Support for U.S. Supreme Court drops as Democrats and independents turn away from justices, poll finds

Patrick Marley
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON — Support for the U.S. Supreme Court dropped 11 points over the summer amid changing partisan attitudes, according to a national poll released Wednesday.

The court won support from 49% of those surveyed by Marquette University Law School. That’s down from 60% in July and two-thirds a year ago.

"That is quite a change," poll director Charles Franklin said in an online video. "The court has in other polling, as well as ours, often had a pretty high approval rating and one that has seemed pretty stable from survey to survey, but we're seeing quite a bit of change over this course of these last two months."

The court is controlled 6-3 by conservatives and is about to take up cases on abortion and other issues infused with politics. Since July, the court saw its support plummet among Democrats and drop significantly among independents, according to the poll. The court's support stayed steady among Republicans.

Despite those changes in attitude, the court still received the best ranking of the three branches of government. Fifty-eight percent said over time they trusted the Supreme Court most, while 25% said they trusted the presidency the most and 16% said they trusted Congress the most.

The decline in support for the court follows a string of decisions this summer that inflamed criticism on the left, especially a ruling this month that left in place Texas’ ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The outcome has muddied the legal fight over the law, by far the most restrictive in the nation, and has raised questions about the court’s fidelity to its landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

The poll of 1,411 adults around the country was conducted online from Sept. 7 to Sept. 16. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Abortion

Half of those surveyed said they would oppose overturning Roe while 20% said they would approve reversing the decision.

The court this term will hear a challenge to a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks — earlier than what is allowed under Roe. Forty percent said they would support upholding the Mississippi law, about a third said they would favor finding that law unconstitutional and 27% said they hadn’t heard enough about the issue to have an opinion.

This month the court declined to immediately block the Texas law that bans abortion when a heartbeat can be detected, at about six weeks. Thirty percent said they favored that restriction, 46% opposed it and 23% said they hadn’t heard enough about the Texas law.

Elections

About a quarter of those surveyed said they would support a ruling that finds states have broad authority to set voting rules. About a third said they would oppose such a ruling and 39% said they hadn’t heard enough about the matter.

The question comes as several states controlled by Republicans set new election policies that Democrats contend are too restrictive. Court fights over some of those rulings are ongoing.

Guns

Forty-four percent said they would favor a decision that would find the Second Amendment guarantees the right to carry a gun outside the home. Twenty-six percent said they would oppose such a ruling and 29% said they hadn’t heard enough about the issue.

Schools

About a third said they would support the court finding it unconstitutional for states to withhold aid to students who attend religious schools if aid is generally available to students who attend other private schools. Fifteen percent said they would oppose such a ruling and half said they hadn’t heard enough.

Affirmative action

More than half — 53% — said they would support a ruling that concluded colleges could not use race as a factor in making admissions decisions. Thirteen percent said they would oppose such a ruling and a third said they didn’t know enough about the matter.

Social media

At a time when former President Donald Trump has been removed from Facebook and Twitter, 39% said they would favor a ruling upholding laws that would prevent social media companies from banning public officials from their platforms. About a quarter said they would oppose such a ruling and about a third said they didn’t know enough about the issue.

How cases are decided

More than 60% said they believed the justices decide cases mainly on the law, while 39% said they thought they decide them mainly on politics.

Changes to the court

Survey respondents were split on whether the court should be expanded, as some Democrats have contended.

Nearly three quarters — 72% — supported having fixed terms for the justices, instead of the lifetime appointments they now enjoy. Support for that idea has remained steady in Marquette University polls over the last two years.

In a 60%-40% split, the public opposed limiting the ability of the court to review acts of Congress to determine if they are constitutional.

The slipping support for the high court comes at a precarious political moment, as a commission Biden created this year to study potential structural changes is preparing its report. That commission was a response to calls from progressives to expand the size of the Supreme Court in an effort to blunt the influence of its conservative majority.

John Fritze of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.