Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The Court's low approval ratings look more like polarization than a broader crisis of legitimacy.
As it gets ready to start a new term, the Supreme Court has a polling problem. Gallup reported in July that only 33% of Americans approve of the job it’s doing, a record low in the 26-year poll. Marquette Law School’s survey is less grim but still shows the Court underwater, with 47% approving and 53% disapproving.
For advocates of Supreme Court “reform,” the temptation is obvious: low approval means that the institution has lost legitimacy and needs structural repair.
But a closer look at Gallup’s polling numbers knocks down that argument. The decline since last year was driven almost entirely by Republicans, whose approval of the Court plunged from 79% in September 2025 to 58% now. Democratic approval remained at 12% and independent approval at 35%, both near their historic lows. Gallup says the partisan gap in Court approval averaged 18 points from 2000 through 2010 but has averaged 32 points since.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Daily Wire
______________________
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
This piece originally appeared in City Journal.