Polling shows record-low confidence in Supreme Court
·Senior Writer
Thu, June 23, 2022 at 5:06 PM
A new poll from Gallup has found confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has reached a record low as the branch’s conservative majority continues to pass down controversial rulings.
, Gallup found that only 25% of Americans have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the Supreme Court. This is down 11% from last year and 5 points below the previous low in 2014. The polling occurred prior to Thursday morning’s ruling striking down restrictions on concealed carry of guns, which was
. It also comes before an expected ruling that would eliminate legal abortion access for millions of Americans by overturning the 1973 decision
Roe v. Wade.
The court’s anti-abortion stances have likely been a key factor in the recent dip in approval, which has a 6-3 majority of Republican appointees, newly expanded under former President Trump. A
taken in May after a leaked draft ruling showed a 5-4 majority was primed to overturn
Roe found a similar dive. (Chief Justice John Roberts, despite being an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was not part of the majority in that draft decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, a fellow Bush appointee.) Approval in that poll was just 44 percent, down 10 points from November 2021 and 22 points from September 2020.
