PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Supreme Court has recently been at the center of controversy. A new survey by the University of Pennsylvania shows confidence in the highest court has plummeted.
“Trust that the SCOTUS is acting in the best interest of the American people has declined significantly,” said Ken Winneg, the managing director of survey research at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at Penn.
He said that the center surveyed more than 1,000 adults in August on issues connected to the judicial branch. The survey asked about attitudes toward the Supreme Court two months after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.
Winneg said that only 46% of surveyed adults said they had “a great deal or fair amount of trust” in the Supreme Court. That’s a 22% drop from those surveyed in 2019 who said they had that level of trust.
“We found a wide divide between Democrats and Republicans on this question,” said Winneg.
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He said that 32% of self-identified Democrats said they trusted the Supreme Court, compared to 63% in 2019.
As for Republicans, 70% in the 2022 survey said they trusted the high court, while 76% of Republicans responded that way three years ago.
Specifically, on the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, 50% strongly disapproved of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
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A majority of survey respondents also disapproved of how the Supreme Court handles its job — 53% in comparison to 39% who approved.
The survey overall also revealed something that Winneg found worrisome.
“More Americans believe the court is too mixed up in politics,” said Winneg. He said 69% agreed with that take, compared to 57% in 2019.
Additionally, 50% of those in the survey believed justices on the high court “are just like any other politicians” and “we cannot trust them to decide court cases in a way that is in the best interest of our country.”
He said that for the court to play its role in our system of government, it’s important to be perceived as independent and impartial.