September 30, 2022
Nearly six in ten Americans say the U.S. Supreme Court is out of touch with the country, according to the latest poll by Monmouth University. That opinion has crystallized in the months since the Court took away a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion in its June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. On the Friday that Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the newest justice and as the Court was preparing to start its new term on the first Monday in October, Monmouth University released its poll results. I interviewed Patrick Murray, Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute on WCBS, about the poll.
Click to listen to my interview and read the full results below.
Public says yes to term limits, but no to court expansion
West Long Branch, NJ – The U.S. Supreme Court begins its new session on Monday with a majority of Americans saying it is out of touch with the country. The Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that decidedly negative views of the court which formed after news leaked about the Dobbs abortion decision continue to hold. The poll also finds widespread support for setting term limits for justices, but few Americans back expanding the size of the court.
About 6 in 10 Americans (59%) say the current Supreme Court is out of touch with the values and beliefs of most Americans. Just one-third (34%) say the court is in touch with the public. Most Democrats (83%) and independents (62%) feel the court is out of touch, while just 32% of Republicans agree. More women (64%) than men (55%) and more people of color (65%) than white non-Hispanic Americans (56%) say the court is out of touch. Also, Americans under 35 years old (70%) are more likely than those aged 35 and older (55%) to feel this way.
“The Supreme Court was not on the radar for many Americans until this summer. Recent decisions have moved some from being on the fence to having a negative opinion of the court,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
