Dec. 19, 2024

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Also:

• Large majorities say a president must follow a Supreme Court decision and the Court can rule on whether laws are constitutional
• Three out of five disfavor Court’s ruling that presidents are broadly immune from criminal prosecutions
• Secret Service and FBI get highest ratings for institutional confidence, with news media and Congress at bottom

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Please note: Complete Poll results and methodology information can be found online at law.marquette.edu/poll

MILWAUKEE – A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds that 48% of adults approve of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing, while 52% disapprove. In October, approval was 45% and disapproval was 55%. This is the highest Court approval since March 2022, when 54% approved.

The trend in approval since 2020 is shown in Figure 1 and Table 1. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages.)

Table 1: U.S. Supreme Court approval

Among adults

Poll dates	Approval
	Approve	Disapprove
12/2-11/24	48	52
10/1-10/24	45	55
7/24-8/1/24	43	57
5/6-15/24	39	61
3/18-28/24	47	53
2/5-15/24	40	60
11/2-7/23	41	59
9/18-25/23	43	57
7/7-12/23	45	55
5/8-18/23	41	59
3/13-22/23	44	56
1/9-20/23	47	53
11/15-22/22	44	56
9/7-14/22	40	60
7/5-12/22	38	61
5/9-19/22	44	55
3/14-24/22	54	45
1/10-21/22	52	46
11/1-10/21	54	46
9/7-16/21	49	50
7/16-26/21	60	39
9/8-15/20	66	33
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job?

The latest Marquette Law School Poll’s national survey was conducted Dec. 2-11, 2024. The survey interviewed 1,063 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points. Some items from this survey, concerning political topics, were released previously, on Dec. 18.

Conflict between Supreme Court, President, Congress

The public believes that the Supreme Court has substantial power in relation to the president and Congress. In a case of the Court’s ruling against the president, 79% say the president is required to follow the Court’s ruling, while 21% may the president has the power to ignore the Court’s ruling. This opinion has been relatively stable since 2019, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Can president ignore Supreme Court ruling

Among adults

Poll dates	Ignore or follow ruling
	The president has the power to ignore the ruling	The president is required to do as the ruling says
12/2-11/24	21	79
9/8-15/20	16	82
9/3-13/19	22	76
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: If the Supreme Court rules against the president in a case, does the president have the power to ignore that ruling, or is the president required to do as the ruling says?

There is virtually no partisan division on this question, with nearly identical percentages of Republican, independent, and Democratic responses, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Can president ignore Supreme Court ruling, by party identification

Among adults

Party ID	Ignore or follow ruling
	The president has the power to ignore the ruling	The president is required to do as the ruling says
Total	21	79
Republican	21	79
Independent	22	78
Democrat	21	79
Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: If the Supreme Court rules against the president in a case, does the president have the power to ignore that ruling, or is the president required to do as the ruling says?

An even larger majority, 83%, say the Supreme Court has the power to review laws passed by Congress and to declare them invalid if they conflict with the Constitution, while 16% say the Court lacks this power. This has also been quite stable since 2019 as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Can Court review laws

Among adults

Poll dates	Can review laws
	Yes, the Supreme Court has this power	No, the Supreme Court does not have this power
12/2-11/24	83	16
9/7-16/21	86	14
9/8-15/20	87	13
9/3-13/19	85	14
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Does the Supreme Court have the power to review laws passed by Congress and to declare them invalid if they conflict with the Constitution?

Republicans and Democrats are in close agreement on the power of judicial review of laws passed by Congress, though somewhat fewer independents say the Court has this power, as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Can Court review laws, by party identification

Among adults

Party ID	Judicial review
	Yes, the Supreme Court has this power	No, the Supreme Court does not have this power
Total	83	16
Republican	86	14
Independent	74	25
Democrat	84	16
Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Does the Supreme Court have the power to review laws passed by Congress and to declare them invalid if they conflict with the Constitution?

Asked if presidents should be able to make laws if Congress fails to act, 22% say the president should have this power, while 78% say the president should not have this power. In September 2020, slightly more (28%) said the president should have the power to make laws, though large majorities in both surveys said this should not be a presidential power, as shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Should president be able to make laws

Among adults

Poll dates	Should president make laws
	Yes, president should be able to make laws	No, president should not be able to make laws
12/2-11/24	22	78
9/8-15/20	28	72
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: When Congress fails to act, should the president have the power to make laws on his own?

In the December poll, substantial majorities of each partisan group are in agreement on this question. However, in September 2020, almost half of Republicans were willing to see the president have this lawmaking power, as shown in Table 7.

Table 7: Should president be able to make laws, by party identification

Among adults

Party ID	Should president make laws
	Yes, president should be able to make laws	No, president should not be able to make laws
9/8-15/20
Republican	45	55
Independent	23	77
Democrat	15	85
12/2-11/24
Republican	28	72
Independent	23	77
Democrat	14	86
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: When Congress fails to act, should the president have the power to make laws on his own?

The public largely opposes the Court’s July decision holding that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. This decision is favored by 38% and opposed by 62% as shown in Table 8.

Table 8: Presidential immunity from criminal prosecution

Among adults

Poll dates	Presidential immunity decision
	Favor	Oppose
12/2-11/24	38	62
10/1-10/24	39	61
7/24-8/1/24	41	59
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, while there is no immunity for unofficial acts, former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts as president. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

There are substantial partisan divisions on this question. Republicans are much more in favor and Democrats strongly opposed, but support for the decision has declined among both Republicans and independents since July. The level of support among Democrats is holding steady, but is quite low, as shown in Table 9.

Table 9: Presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, by party identification

Among adults

Party ID	Presidential immunity
	Favor	Oppose
7/24-8/1/24
Republican	69	31
Independent	36	64
Democrat	15	85
10/1-10/24
Republican	66	34
Independent	33	67
Democrat	15	85
12/2-11/24
Republican	63	37
Independent	28	72
Democrat	14	86
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, while there is no immunity for unofficial acts, former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts as president. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

The public continues to strongly favor the Bostock v. Clayton County decision from 2020, which held that federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. In December, the decision is favored by 80% and opposed by 20%. Support for this decision has not fallen below 80% since May of 2022, as shown in Table 10.

Table 10: Favor or oppose Bostock decision

Among adults

Poll dates	Bostock decision
	Favor	Oppose
12/2-11/24	80	20
2/5-15/24	81	19
11/2-7/23	82	18
9/18-25/23	85	15
7/7-12/23	81	19
3/13-22/23	80	20
11/15-22/22	83	17
9/7-14/22	87	12
7/5-12/22	84	16
5/9-19/22	83	16
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

This support for barring discrimination in the workplace against transgender and gay workers contrasts with support for a proposal that would require transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, which is favored by 76%. Similarly, 61% favor a ban on “gender-affirming” care such as hormone therapy or surgery for transgender minors under 18. (These results were reported in the poll release of December 18.)

Views of the Court

The public is divided in rating the honesty and ethical standards of the justices. Twenty-five percent say the justices have very high or high standards, 42% rate them average, and 33% say the justices’ ethical standards are low or very low.

There are partisan divides in rating the ethical standards of the Court, with Republicans giving considerably higher ratings than do Democrats, as shown in Table 11.

Table 11: Rating ethical standards of the Supreme Court, by party identification

Among adults

Party ID	Ethical standards of Court
	Very high/high	Average	Low/Very low
Total	25	42	33
Republican	42	44	14
Independent	8	57	35
Democrat	11	36	53
Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: How would you rate the honesty and ethical standards of U.S. Supreme Court justices?

The belief that justices’ decisions are motivated mainly by politics has increased since 2019, with 52% now saying this is their main motivation and 48% saying justices are mainly motivated by the law. In September 2019, 35% said mainly politics and 64% said mainly the law.

In 2019, both Republicans and Democrats agreed that decisions were based mainly on the law, with 66% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats saying mainly the law. In the current poll, 68% of Republicans say mainly the law, while only 31% of Democrats say the same.

Eighty-six percent say the choice of the next justice of the Supreme Court is very or somewhat important to them, with 14% saying it is not too or not at all important to them. Both Republicans, 85%, and Democrats, 93%, say the choice of justice is very or somewhat important, while 67% of independents say so.

The public is at a low point in the past year in attention to news about the Court. Only 17% say they have heard a lot about the court in the last month, while 64% have heard a little and 18% have heard nothing at all. This is similar to attention to the Court in October. The trend in attention is shown in Table 12.

Table 12: Attention to news about the Court

Among adults

Poll dates	How much read or heard about the Court
	A lot	A little	Nothing at all
12/2-11/24	17	64	18
10/1-10/24	19	61	20
7/24-8/1/24	32	54	14
5/6-15/24	27	52	21
3/18-28/24	30	50	19
2/5-15/24	24	56	20
11/2-7/23	15	60	25
9/18-25/23	17	61	22
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Thinking about the last month only, how much have you heard or read about the U.S. Supreme Court?

The Court has had a majority of justices appointed by Republican presidents for 54 years, since 1970 (with the exception of a 14-month vacancy in 2016-17 which created a 4-4 tie), and the current Court has six justices appointed by Republicans and three appointed by Democrats. Nonetheless, 21% of adults believe a majority of justices were definitely or probably appointed by Democratic presidents. Forty-one percent say a majority were probably appointed by Republican presidents, and 37% say this is definitely the case. This opinion has varied modestly since 2019, with an increase in the percentage saying there is definitely a Republican-appointed majority, as shown in Table 13.

Table 13: Majority of Court appointed by which party's presidents

Among adults

Poll dates	Majority appointed by
	Definitely/Probably Dem majority	Probably Rep majority	Definitely Rep majority
12/2-11/24	21	41	37
10/1-10/24	22	43	35
7/24-8/1/24	24	41	35
5/6-15/24	28	40	33
3/18-28/24	25	43	32
2/5-15/24	29	38	33
11/2-7/23	26	43	30
9/18-25/23	26	42	32
7/7-12/23	22	42	36
5/8-18/23	29	41	30
3/13-22/23	27	41	31
1/9-20/23	23	41	36
11/15-22/22	24	40	35
9/7-14/22	22	40	37
7/5-12/22	20	40	40
5/9-19/22	31	39	31
3/14-24/22	28	47	24
1/10-21/22	23	44	33
11/1-10/21	28	44	28
9/7-16/21	25	46	29
7/16-26/21	24	45	30
9/8-15/20	28	51	21
9/3-13/19	27	53	19
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: What is your guess as to whether a majority of the current U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic or Republican presidents?

Opinion of Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade

The public remains substantially opposed to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade, which in 1973 had established a constitutional right to abortion. In the December poll, 37% favor the Dobbs decision and 63% oppose it. Opinion of this decision has varied only slightly over the past two years, as shown in Table 14.

Table 14: Favor or oppose Dobbs decision

Among adults

Poll dates	Dobbs decision
	Favor	Oppose
12/2-11/24	37	63
10/1-10/24	37	63
7/24-8/1/24	33	67
2/5-15/24	33	67
11/2-7/23	35	65
9/18-25/23	36	64
7/7-12/23	38	62
5/8-18/23	35	65
3/13-22/23	33	67
1/9-20/23	35	64
11/15-22/22	33	66
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, thus striking down the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

Confidence in institutions

Confidence in several institutions is summarized in Table 15. The U.S. Secret Service has the highest confidence rating, despite the failure to prevent the July assassination attempt against presidential candidate Donald Trump. The FBI has the second highest rating, despite coming in for criticism from Trump and others likely to be in the new administration.

The Supreme Court, the presidency, and the Department of Justice have the third, fourth, and fifth highest ratings, respectively, but more people say they have little or no confidence in them than say they have a great deal or a lot of confidence, unlike the Secret Service or FBI.

The national news media and Congress have substantially lower confidence ratings than the other institutions, with fewer than 15% expressing a great deal or a lot of confidence in them.

The full set of results is shown in Table 15

Table 15: Confidence in institutions

Among adults

Institution	Confidence
	Great deal/a lot	Some	Little/None
The U.S. Secret Service	33	39	28
The FBI	32	38	30
U.S. Supreme Court	26	35	38
The Presidency	25	34	41
The U.S. Department of Justice	24	41	34
National news media	14	27	59
Congress	11	42	47
Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Here is a list of institutions in American society. How much confidence do you have in each one?

As approval of the Supreme Court has declined, so has confidence in the Court. In 2019, 37% had a great deal or a lot of confidence in the Court, while 20% had little or no confidence. In this December poll, the balance has reversed, with 26% having a great deal or a lot of confidence, while 38% have little or no confidence. The full trend is shown in Table 16

Table 16: Confidence in the Supreme Court, 2019-2024

Among adults

Poll dates	Confidence
	Great deal/a lot	Some	Little/None
12/2-11/24	26	35	38
10/1-10/24	27	34	39
7/24-8/1/24	26	32	42
5/6-15/24	24	37	40
3/18-28/24	30	37	33
2/5-15/24	25	35	40
11/2-7/23	28	36	36
9/18-25/23	28	37	35
7/7-12/23	31	32	37
5/8-18/23	25	36	39
3/13-22/23	28	40	32
1/9-20/23	31	38	31
11/15-22/22	30	36	34
9/7-14/22	30	34	36
7/5-12/22	28	28	44
9/8-15/20	39	45	16
9/3-13/19	37	42	20
Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys,  latest: Dec. 2-11, 2024
Question: Here is a list of institutions in American society. How much confidence do you have in each one?

About the Marquette Law School Poll

The survey was conducted Dec. 2-11, 2024, interviewing 1,063 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points. Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for this release are available on the Marquette Law Poll website. Some items from this survey were released previously, on Dec. 18.

Wording of questions about recent and past Supreme Court decisions: These items do not attempt to exactly frame the particular issues in specific cases but rather address the topic in more general terms.

The wording of questions about recent decisions include:

Trump v. United States

• In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, while there is no immunity for unofficial acts, former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts as president. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

• In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, thus striking down the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia

• In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

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  About Kevin Conway

  

  Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.