Supreme Court approval drops to all-time low: poll

Public approval of the Supreme Court has fallen to an all-time low, a poll released Wednesday shows, as the nation nears the anniversary of the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

A Quinnipiac University poll found just 30 percent of registered voters approved of the nation’s highest court, while 59 percent disapproved — which the poll notes is the demographic’s lowest approval rating for the Supreme Court since Quinnipiac started asking the question in 2004. 

Just 10 percent of registered Democrats surveyed said they approved of the Supreme Court, compared to 53 percent of registered Republicans. 

“American voters drop the gavel and prove harsh judges as a drip, drip, drip in approval gives the Highest Court its lowest marks,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in the release. 

Nearly 7 in 10 registered voters in the poll reported thinking the Supreme Court is “mainly motivated by politics” — compared to a quarter who think the Supreme Court is “mainly motivated by the law.”  

Eighty-five percent of registered Democrats think the court is mainly motivated by politics, compared to 51 percent of registered Republicans who said the same. 

Sixty-five percent of the registered voters surveyed also said they support limiting the number of years a justice can serve on the Supreme Court; the nine justices currently serve for life.

The poll results were released just days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court issuing its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and overturning federal abortion protections. 

An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll published Wednesday found that a majority of Americans (57 percent) oppose the court’s decision in Dobbs. Other recent findings indicate most Americans don’t trust the the Supreme Court to decide cases related to reproductive and sexual health and think the justices let partisan views influence their decision-making. 

Conducted June 15-19, the Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 1,560 self-identified registered voters. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for that group.