How much confidence do Americans have in the Supreme Court? What new poll found

Confidence in the Supreme Court is low as most Americans believe the justices are likely driven by ideological agendas, new polling reveals.

Just 16% of U.S. adults have “a great deal of confidence” in the nation’s highest court, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC poll, which comes as the court is poised to issue major decisions, including on presidential immunity.

A plurality of respondents, 44%, said they have “only some confidence” in the court, and 44% said they have “hardly any confidence at all.”

The poll — conducted June 20-24 — sampled 1,088 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Levels of confidence varied widely by partisan affiliation, with 18% of Republicans saying they have hardly any confidence and more than three times as many Democrats, 58%, saying the same. Forty-one percent of independents said they have hardly any confidence in the high court.

Respondents also had low levels of confidence in the court when it came to its handling of specific issues, the poll found.

A plurality, 44%, said they had no confidence at all in the Supreme Court’s handling of abortion. Meanwhile, 10% said they had a great deal of confidence, 22% said they had a moderate amount and 23% said they had only a little.

Again, when broken down by partisan affiliation, there were large disparities in confidence, with 65% of Democrats saying they had none at all, compared to 21% of Republicans who said the same.

Similarly, a plurality of respondents, 37%, said they had no confidence at all in the court’s handling of gun policy.

When broken down by partisan affiliation, a majority of Democrats, 51%, said they had no confidence at all, and only 20% of Republicans said the same.

Respondents had slightly higher levels of confidence in the court when it came to its handling of elections and voting, and presidential power and immunity.

A plurality of respondents, 32%, said they had only a little confidence in the court’s decision-making on elections and voting. A plurality, 34%, had the same level of confidence in the court’s handling of presidential power and immunity.

In addition, a majority of respondents, 70%, said the court’s justices were more likely to make decisions based on ideology than they were “to provide an independent check on other branches of government by being fair and impartial.”

Again, answers to this question varied widely based on partisan affiliation, with 84% of Democrats saying the justices were more likely driven by ideology, while only 50% of Republicans said the same.

The poll also found that the Supreme Court is not alone in receiving low levels of confidence among the public. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they had “hardly any confidence in the executive branch, and 45% said they “lacked confidence in Congress.”

The poll comes as the court is in its final days of its annual term, and is preparing to issue multiple decisions that could have sweeping consequences.

Among them are a widely anticipated decision on former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claim, which will determine whether he can be prosecuted on charges of election interference.

The court will also soon release its decision on obstruction charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The decision could call into question over 100 Jan. 6 related cases, according to ABC News.

This story was originally published June 27, 2024 at 2:46 PM with the headline "How much confidence do Americans have in the Supreme Court? What new poll found."