Terry Jones of Issues and Insights dissects new polling data involving the nation’s highest court.
Americans mostly trust the nation’s highest court to do what’s best, presumably by scrupulously following the laws enshrined in the 238-year-old U.S. Constitution. But that trust could be tested in coming months, as the Supreme Court decides whether President Donald Trump’s tariffs pass constitutional muster, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
When U.S. Supreme Court Justices are sworn in to office, they vow to “support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”With this in mind, the I&I/TIPP Poll this month asked voters simply: “How much confidence do you have in the U.S. Supreme Court to make decisions that are in the best interests of the country? “
Most Americans – by the slimmest possible majority, 50% – answered either “a great deal” (16%) or “somewhat” (34%). But 42% responded either “not much” (25%) or “none at all” (17%). Another 7% were not sure.
The national online poll was taken by 1,483 adult Americans from Nov. 25 to Nov. 29. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.
There were once again differences in how people viewed the high court, and, not surprisingly, political leaning of the respondents played a major role.
Only 42% of Democrats said they had confidence in the Court’s decision making, while 51% said they didn’t. Independents were slightly less confident, with just 40% expressing confidence while 51% said expressed a lack of confidence.
Not surprisingly, with a solid 6-3 conservative majority on the Court – and with Trump having appointed three of the nine sitting justices – Republicans are pretty well pleased: In the I&I/TIPP Poll, 69% expressed confidence, and just 26% a lack of confidence.
But another big difference stands out: men and women. When it comes to the Supreme Court, men (58% “great deal/some” confidence, vs. 38% “not much/none” confidence) are far more certain that the nine justices will do the right thing for the country than women at 43% confident, 47% not confident.
