Gallup poll: Trust in the Supreme Court falls to record low

In a recent poll conducted by Gallup, only 47% of Americans said they have either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the Supreme Court.

The figure is the lowest percentage since Gallup started measuring this trend 50 years ago. This is also a 20 point drop from the same time last year.

Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones said that: “The judicial branch’s tarnished image contrasts with trust levels exceeding two-thirds in most years in Gallup’s trend that began in 1972.”

Only 4 in 10 Americans said they approve of the way the Supreme Court handles its role within the government, while 58% disapprove. 

The poll shows that there is a direct link between the Supreme Court’s updated figure and their recent landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

One year ago, half of Democrats polled said they had either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Supreme Court. In the latest Gallup polling, this number has nosedived to 25%, this decline means that this  the first time that less than half of Democrats have ever shown a strong lack of faith in the court in a Gallup poll.

7 in 10 Democrats (71%) said the Supreme Court is “too conservative,” while just 18% said its ideology is “about right” and 9% said it is “too liberal.” Nearly half of independents (46%) agreed that the court is “too conservative,” while most Republicans (58%) said the court’s ideology is “about right.”

The Supreme Court are not the only government institution who have lost publc support as other polls have shown a broader decline in trust in virtually every major American institution.

Gallup carried out some polls over the summer which found “significant declines” in trust in the 11 of the 16 major US institutions it tested, and not any of those institutions growing more trusted over the past year.

In that survey, which was carried out prior to the Roe ruling, only 1 in 4 Americans expressed a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Supreme Court – down 11 points from the previous year.