Poll: Americans Give Their Opinions on the Supreme Court

When the Supreme Count begins its next session this week, the nine justices will hear cases on issues like job discrimination, capital punishment, and the rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Gallup Organization has just released the results of a poll showing American's impressions of the court.

According to the results of the survey, which was taken in September of 2007, 51% of Americans approve of the way the Court is handling its job and 39% disapprove. The approval rate is down from the state of last year's term when it was 60% and it about the same as it was this past spring, when the rating dropped after the court ruled to ban partial birth abortions.

The opinion of the court fluctuates greatly, especially after they have made a ruling on a controversial case, when it usually goes down. For instance, for the three years from August 2000 to July 2003, the support for the court stood at about 60%. Then in September of 2003, when the court overturned a Texas law that prohibited certain sexual acts mainly between same-sex partners, and they also rejected the University of Michigan's use of a point system that used race as one of the factors of admission, the approval rating dropped to 52% and stayed there until 2004.

The current ratings of the Supreme Court are split along party lines. On the Republican side, 69% say they approve of the job the court is doing. The independents give it a 47% approval rating and the Democrats 41%.

After the ruling in the Bush Gore Presidential election case, the Democrats rating of the court went from 70% to 42% and at the same time the ratings among the Republicans went form 60% to 80%.

They asked the respondents to classify the Supreme Court as Conservative or Liberal or middle of the road. About the current Supreme Court 32% say it is too conservative, 21% say it is too liberal and 43% say it is just about right. These are just about the same as the opinions just before the start of last years court term. As a matter of fact, in most years past the majority have said the court is about right.