U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Voters continue to give the U.S. Supreme Court a lukewarm review, the Rasmussen Reports polling firm announced last week.
The Rasmussen poll of likely voters indicated that 33 percent say the Supreme Court is doing a good or excellent job, with only 3 percent giving it an excellent grade. Nineteen percent give the Supreme Court a poor rating.
Thirty percent also consider the Court too politically liberal. Twenty-seven percent believe the high court is too politically conservative. The positive ratings for the high court are only slightly below a June survey and are just three points above the all-time low of 30 percent measured in March. The court's good/excellent ratings have remained the same since November 2006.
Another 27 percent say the court's ideology is about right, a finding that has ranged from 27 percent to 42 percent. Fifteen percent are undecided.
The national survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on September
20-21 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3
percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Thirty-eight percent of voters believe justices nominated by Obama are too liberal, a finding that has ranged from 38 percent to 48 percent since mid-November 2008. Six percent say the president's nominations are too conservative, while 41 percent say they're about right. Sixteen percent are not sure.
Most Republicans (55 percent) believe the U.S. Supreme Court is too liberal, while a plurality of Democrats (46 percent) believes it is too conservative. Voters not affiliated with either party are more evenly divided.
Consistent with trust in individual citizens rather than government officials, most adults nationwide still trust a jury over a judge to determine the innocence or guilt of a defendant. However, faith in juries fell a bit following the Casey Anthony verdict.