Voters Give the U.S. Supreme Court Record High Ratings

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). (Photo: AdobeStock/bbourdages)

After a week that saw a retirement and some of the biggest landmark case decisions in years, voters give the U.S. Supreme Court record high ratings. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds (43%) of likely voters rate the Roberts Court’s job performance as good (31%) or excellent (12%).

That represents a gain from 37% in total back in October of last year and matches the previous high, reached only one time before in April 2008. A 21% minority still say the court is doing a poor job.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, 82, a notable swing vote on the Roberts Court, just announced his retirement effective July 31, 2018. His replacement could alter the ideological lean of the Court to conservatism for generations to come.

Twenty-six percent (26%) of voters think the Supreme Court is too liberal, while 35% say it’s too conservative. These finding are virtually unchanged from last October, but in surveys for several years prior to that, voters tended to see the court as more liberal than conservative.

Thirty-one percent (31%) now rate the court politically as about right.

Rasmussen Reports will offer its first numbers on the battle to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy next week.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 27-28, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. See methodology.