June 27, 2024
In the final days of the United States Supreme Court’s term, the public’s confidence in the nation’s highest court is low. Sixteen percent of U.S. adults have a great deal of confidence in the people running the Supreme Court, similar to AP-NORC polls taken in 2023. Confidence is especially low among Democrats, while Republicans are more likely to say they have at least some confidence. In addition, very conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate Republicans to say they have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court (45% vs19%).
There are also low levels of confidence in other branches of government. Thirty-six percent have hardly any confidence in the executive branch of the federal government and 45% lack confidence in Congress. In addition, 32% have hardly any confidence in the Department of Justice.
The public also lacks confidence in how the Supreme Court deals with specific issues. About two-thirds have little or no confidence in the Supreme Courts’ handling of abortion (67%), gun policy (67%), presidential power and immunity (66%), or cases concerning elections and voting (63%).
About half of Republicans have at least a moderate amount of confidence in the Supreme Court’s handling of these issues. However, when it comes to the issue of gun policy, Republicans who identified as very conservative were more likely than moderate Republicans to say they are confident in the Court’s handling of the case (62% vs 43%). When it comes to the issue of presidential power and immunity, Republican women are more likely than Republican men to say they have hardly any confidence in the Court’s handling of the case (62% vs 45%). Democrats and independents are less confident.
This low level of confidence in the Supreme Court is consistent with the majority of the public believing that the Supreme Court justices are guided by their own ideologies, rather than serving as an independent check on the other branches of government. Democrats and independents are more likely than Republicans to hold this view.
The nationwide poll was conducted June 20-24, 2024 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 1,088 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (June 2024). https://apnorc.org/projects/confidence-in-the-supreme-court-remains-low/
