Driven by political partisanship, public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court has continued a downward slide since the court's 2022 Dobbs decision overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion, according to a new survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
More than half of Americans (56%) now disapprove of the Supreme Court, saying they trust it either "a little" or "not at all" to act in the best interest of "people like you," according to the nationally representative panel survey conducted in July and August 2024.
Support for the court stands at 44%, with 8% expressing "a great deal" of trust, 11% "a lot" of trust, and 25% "a moderate amount" of trust in the court to act in the best interest of people like you. It is the lowest overall level of trust since APPC began surveying the American public on this issue in 2005, when 75% of the public trusted the court.
The new survey, conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,395 adult U.S. citizens, was fielded July 12-August 12, 2024, following the court's 2023–24 term, which concluded on July 1 with the court's ruling in the Capitol insurrection case that Donald Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts he took as president. The same sample of respondents was previously surveyed in May 2024, during the court term.
In August 2024, 44% overall have trust in the Supreme Court, about the same as 45% in May. But the 40-point spread in trust seen in May between Republicans and Democrats widened significantly to 47 points in August, with 71% of Republicans, 41% of independents, and 24% of Democrats having trust in the court to act in their best interest.
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