July 28 (UPI) — Americans’ approval of the job performance of the U.S. Supreme Court has dropped to a record low of 33%, a Gallup poll released Tuesday shows. The prior low was 39% last year.
The further dip in approval in this year’s poll was largely driven by Republicans, Gallup said. Republicans approved of the court by a near-record high of 79% last year; that percentage has fallen to 58%. The rating is the lowest by Republicans since 56% in 2023.
Approval ratings from Democrats (12%) and independents (35%) stayed nearly the same from last year, at near-record low points.
Gallup conducted the poll from July 1 to 19, just after the end of the 2025-26 court term. Gallup noted that some of the court’s rulings during this term were favorable to U.S. Donald Trump and his policies, while the president criticized others.
“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,” Gallup said. “But the court rejected the president’s legal basis for imposing tariffs without congressional authorization, struck down the president’s executive order limiting U.S. birthright citizenship and rejected, on due process grounds, the president’s attempt to immediately remove Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook.”
The first poll to measure approval of the court took place in 2000, when the approval rating was 62%. Majorities tended to approve of the court’s job until 2010.
After that, approval ratings have been about 40%, mostly because of greater party polarization, Gallup said. From 2000 to 2010, party members tended to differ by about 18 points on the court’s performance. Since 2010, they have differed by an average of 32 points.
Gallup surveyed 1,200 adults between July 1-19 with a 4 percent margin of error.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
