Democrats have turned against the Supreme Court in light of recent decisions that outlaw a women's constitutional right to an abortion, weaken the Environmental Protection Agency, and strengthen the Second Amendment.
The Supreme Court has nine lifetime justices appointed by presidents who now lean conservative on most decisions by 6-3. Former President Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices in his term.
In a new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute, only 33% of Democrats view the Supreme Court favorably, while 63% have an unfavorable opinion, including 40% of Democrats who have a very unfavorable view of the Supreme Court.
Rasmussen finds that 72% of Republicans and 52% of independent voters have a favorable opinion of the court. A majority of Democrats view the Supreme Court as racist and discriminatory against women, and favor either "packing" the court by adding extra justices or replacing the existing court with democratically elected justices.
Among Democrat voters, 64% favor expanding the Supreme Court to 13 seats, including 37% who strongly favor it. A majority (51%) of likely voters would oppose such a plan, including 40% who strongly oppose so-called "court-packing," while 41% favor it.
More than half — 53% — oppose legislation to establish a new, democratically elected Supreme Court with justices chosen by the American people directly. However, 53% of Democrats favor it, including 33% who strongly favor it. But only 21% of Republicans and 23% of conservatives favor a Supreme Court with justices voted on by the people directly.
Almost half of voters under age 40 think the Supreme Court is "fundamentally racist" and 54% believe the court is "fundamentally sexist." A majority of this group of voters favor expanding the Supreme Court to 13 seats, and nearly half (48%) of voters under 40 think the United Nations should be able to reverse Supreme Court decisions.
Almost half (48%) of women voters at least somewhat agree that the Supreme Court "is a fundamentally sexist institution that favors men over women." More women voters (48%) than men (37%) regard the court unfavorably.
Majorities of black voters (54%) and Hispanics (50%) at least somewhat agree that the Supreme Court "is a fundamentally racist institution." Only 27% of whites and 29% of other minorities think that way. Similarly, while 59% of black voters and 55% of Hispanics at least somewhat favor expanding the Supreme Court to 13 seats, just 35% of whites and 34% of other minorities agree.
Among voters who strongly approve of President Joe Biden’s job performance as president, 62% favor abolishing the current Supreme Court and replacing it with one in which justices are elected directly by the people. Among voters who strongly disapprove of Biden's performance, only 17% favor such a proposal and 76% are opposed.
"By and large, the American people hold the Court in high esteem, as this poll amply demonstrates," said Heartland Institute Senior Editor Chris Talgo. "However, there is absolutely a movement afoot, principally among leftists and America's youth, who desire to 'reimagine' the Supreme Court so that it will become nothing more than a rubber stamp for their radical agenda. Fortunately, most likely voters reject this notion and steadfastly support the Supreme Court."
The survey of 1,025 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted July 6-7 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
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