WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' approval of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing has fallen to a record low of 33%, driven by a steep drop in Republicans’ backing of the court since last year. The prior low approval rating was 39% measured a year ago.
Corresponding with the drop in approval, disapproval of the court has climbed to a record high 61% in the July 1-19 Gallup poll, conducted just after the end of the 2025-2026 Supreme Court term.
The court issued several notable rulings during the term, some that were favorable to the Trump administration and hailed by President Donald Trump, and others that were unfavorable to his policies and criticized by him. Among the rulings favorable to the Trump administration were an expansion of the president’s ability to fire members of independent administrative agencies and upholding state laws limiting participation of female transgender athletes from women’s sports. But the court rejected the president’s legal basis for imposing tariffs without Congressional authorization, struck down the president’s executive order limiting birthright U.S. citizenship, and rejected, on due process grounds, the president’s attempt to immediately remove Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. The court also allowed states to continue counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a decision at odds with the president’s efforts to limit voting by mail.
Sixty-two percent of Americans approved of the job the Supreme Court was doing in Gallup’s initial 2000 reading, and majorities typically approved of the job the court was doing through 2010. Since then, ratings have mostly been in the 40% range, in part because of greater party polarization. Party approval ratings of the court differed by 18 points on average between 2000 and 2010, but the gap has nearly doubled since then, averaging 32 points.
Republicans Driving Latest Drop in Approval
Republicans’ approval rating of the Supreme Court has dropped to 58% from a near-record high 79% in the last measurement in September. This decline may indicate that rulings unfavorable to the Trump administration this term, such as those on tariffs and birthright citizenship, weigh more heavily in Republicans’ evaluations of the court than the rulings that favored Trump and the GOP. The current Republican approval rating is now similar to their average 56% approval for the entire Gallup trend.
Approval ratings among Democrats (12%) and independents (35%) are essentially unchanged from September and remain near their historical low points. Democrats’ ratings for the past five years, all coming since the court has held a 6-3 conservative majority, rank among the lowest for any party group in Gallup’s trend.
Republicans’ current rating is the lowest for them since a 56% reading in September 2023. Their job approval of the Supreme Court has mostly exceeded 60% since 2017, when Trump appointed the first of three justices who shifted the court’s ideology in a more conservative direction.
Republicans were most critical of the court during the Obama administration years, dropping to 18% approval in 2015 after its rulings legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and upheld the Affordable Care Act’s major funding provisions.
Implications
Americans have not been more displeased with the U.S. Supreme Court at any point in at least the last 26 years. This reflects the historically low approval among Democrats and independents combined with mere average approval from Republicans.
Historically, Americans’ views of the court have been influenced by the ideological composition of the court, the party of the incumbent president and public reactions to the substance of significant court rulings. Democrats’ and independents’ low ratings likely reflect their unhappiness with the conservative tilt of the court, while Republicans’ lower ratings indicate they are disappointed with some of the court’s 2026 rulings, likely those that thwarted key Trump administration policy goals.
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