Liberals and conservatives both perceive the Supreme Court as acting against their preferences
The latest Marquette Law Poll found that approval of the U.S. Supreme Court fell by 11 percentage points from July to September. This change was driven by a 22-point decline among Democrats and a 10-point decline among Independents. Republican approval stayed about the same.
This follows the Court’s narrow September ruling declining to halt Texas’ ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Other recent controversial decisions included striking down the CDC’s eviction moratorium and preventing the Biden administration from ending Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers.
Majorities of Republicans approved of all three of these decisions. Democrats disapproved of each, but more of them lacked an opinion about the CDC moratorium decision and the remain-in-Mexico decision.
Attitudes to Supreme Court decisions | ||||
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Marquette Law School Supreme Court Poll, September 2021, n = 1,411 | ||||
End CDC moratorium | ||||
Reinstate remain-in-Mexico policy | ||||
Uphold 6-week abortion ban | ||||
In light of this, it makes sense that Democratic approval of the court plummeted, but why didn’t Republican approval grow?