Chief Justice John Roberts viewed more favorably than Biden, Trump

by Lauren Sforza - 08/09/23 10:39 AM ET

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts smiles at the State of the Union address. — Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press Pool, file
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts arrives before President Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington.

Chief Justice John Roberts is viewed slightly more favorably than both former President Trump and President Biden, a new poll has found.

A Gallup poll released Wednesday asked respondents to rate 15 prominent public figures, with 43 percent saying they view Roberts favorably and 41 percent saying the same of Trump and Biden.

While Roberts narrowly led both in terms of overall favorability, Trump and Biden’s unfavorable figures in the poll were higher: 55 percent said they viewed Trump in an unfavorable way, while 57 percent said the same about Biden. By comparison, 30 percent viewed Roberts unfavorably.

Roberts, who was appointed to the court by former President George W. Bush, has much less name ID than the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Twenty-seven percent said they had never heard of or had no opinion on Roberts, while just 3 percent and 2 percent said the same thing about Trump and Biden, respectively.

Out of the public figures listed, Prince William of England received the highest share of favorable ratings from Americans at 59 percent. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky followed with 57 percent, and first lady Jill Biden was third at 49 percent.

Justice Clarence Thomas, Roberts’s colleague on the bench, was viewed negatively by 42 percent of respondents, while 39 percent said they viewed him favorably. Gallup reported Thomas’s image in the poll is slightly worse than the last time it was measured in 2005.

In the latest survey, 53 percent had an unfavorable view of Vice President Harris, while 38 percent viewed her in a positive light. Forty-four percent said they viewed Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) unfavorably, while 37 percent viewed him favorably.

Russian President Vladimir Putin drew the lowest marks in the poll, with 90 percent of respondents saying they viewed him negatively.

The survey of 1,015 adults was conducted July 3-27 via landlines and cellphones and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.