July 25, 2022
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 43% have hardly any confidence at all in the Court up from 27% in April. Most Americans favor constitutional reforms to impose term and age limits for justices.
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say they have hardly any confidence in the Court. The drop in confidence since April was driven by Democrats, while views of the court among Republicans have improved. Adults 60 or older are now much more likely to have a great deal of confidence in the Court compared to adults under 30.
Since April, confidence in Congress has remained steady with only about 3% saying they have a great deal of confidence. However, fewer Americans express a great deal of confidence in the executive branch now compared to April (7% vs. 16%).
When it comes to reforms for the Supreme Court, Americans are split about whether to increase the number of justices. Democrats are much more likely to favor this proposal than Republicans. They are also more likely to support term limits and age limits for Supreme Court justices, though about half of Republicans also favor these reforms.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they are very or extremely excited, proud, or relieved about the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Democrats are more likely feel very or extremely angry, hopeless, anxious, or sad.
At least half of all women report feeling at least somewhat angry, sad, hopeless, and anxious. Men are more likely to express some degree of indifference about the decision.
The nationwide poll was conducted July 14-17, 2022 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,085 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points.
• Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (July 2022). “Americans have lost confidence in the Supreme Court” ” [https://apnorc.org/projects/americans-have-lost-confidence-in-the-supreme-court]
