Two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of presidential immunity, a new Fox News national poll finds that voters are not only unhappy with the decision, but also believe the Court is too conservative and that its decisions are influenced by partisanship.
Additionally, approval of the Supreme Court's work has fallen to an all-time low of 38%, down three points from April 2023 (41%) and down 20 points from its high of 58% in March 2017.
A high 60 percent of people were dissatisfied with the court's response.
Since 2017, the Supreme Court's approval rating has fallen 48 points among Democrats and 29 points among independents, but has increased 12 points among Republicans.
Men are 16 percentage points more likely to support the Supreme Court than women, and voters over 65 are 17 percentage points more likely to support the Court than voters under 30.
On July 1, the Supreme Court issued a historic decision, ruling that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts performed while in office.
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The survey released Tuesday found that 56% of voters oppose the immunity decision, including 8 in 10 Democrats (82%), 7 in 10 independents (68%) and nearly 3 in 10 Republicans (27%).
Overall, 41% support the exemption decision.
The investigation was conducted after the presidential immunity ruling and before a Florida judge dismissed federal charges against former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.
Those who think the Supreme Court is too conservative are at a record high of 45%, up from 34% two years ago and lows of 16% in both July 2015 and April 2010.
In July 2015, as many as 45% thought the Supreme Court was too liberal; now, just 19% feel the same way.
Only a third (33%) think the Supreme Court strikes the right balance, down from a record high of 47% in 2017.
About eight in 10 people favor establishing mandatory retirement age for judges (81% in favor) and limiting judges' terms to 18 years (78%). Both figures have increased by double digits since July 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case (71% and 66%, respectively).
Since 2022, support for the proposal has increased across all demographic groups, especially among Republicans (term limits +17, mandatory retirement age +15).
In general, more than eight in 10 voters believe partisanship at least sometimes influences how judges rule (83%). While most partisans agree that political views do influence cases, more Democrats (88%) feel this way than Republicans (78%) or Independents (82%).
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ranks in the middle of voter concerns.
Seven in 10 (71%) are extremely or very concerned about the Supreme Court, including 44% who say they are very concerned.
That's roughly on par with illegal immigration (73%), abortion (70%), the Israel-Hamas war (69%) and Russia's invasion of Ukraine (69%), but lower than voters' concerns about threats to individual rights (89%), the economy (88%), health care (85%), threats to fair elections (83%) and rising crime rates and taxes (79% each).
For Democrats, the Supreme Court ranks as the No. 5 concern, but for Republicans it's No. 10 and for independents it's No. 8.
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The Supreme Court and 2024
President Biden is slightly ahead of President Trump in terms of his ability to handle Supreme Court nominations (Biden 50% vs. Trump 47%).
“The Supreme Court was a winnable issue for Trump in 2016, when some traditional conservatives ignored unpleasant aspects of his personal behavior and voted for him because of the promise of conservative judges,” said Chris Anderson, a Democratic pollster who conducted the Fox News poll with Republican Daron Shaw. “Now that Trump has created a Supreme Court that many voters don't like, it could become a motivating issue for Democrats.”
In a race where Trump (49%) and Biden (48%) are neck and neck by one point, Trump has slightly more support among those who think he could handle the nomination better (96%) and Biden has slightly more support among those who think he could handle the nomination better (93%).
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The investigation was completed before the shooting at the Trump rally on Saturday.
Click here to see the top lines and crosstabs
Conducted July 7-10, 2024 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey included interviews with a randomly selected sample of 1,210 registered voters from the national voter file. Respondents spoke with a live interviewer on landline (132) and cell phone (787) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (291). The margin of sampling error for results based on the full sample is ±3 percentage points. Sampling error associated with subgroup results is even higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order may affect results. Weights are commonly applied to age, race, education, and region variables to ensure respondent demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weighting targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.