Approval of the Supreme Court rises to 54%, highest since March 2022, but partisan differences on opinions of the Court and what motivates justices remain strong

April 3, 2025

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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 70% of adults saying judges should not be impeached for ruling against President Donald Trump’s spending freezes and agency closures, while 30% support such impeachments. Republicans are divided, with 52% opposed to impeachments of judges and 48% in favor of impeachments. Among independents, 75% oppose and 25% support impeachments, while 87% of Democrats oppose and 13% say judges should be impeached.

Those who strongly approve of Trump’s handling of his job are also most supportive of impeaching judges, with 62% supporting impeachment and 38% opposed. Support drops with those who somewhat approve of Trump’s job performance, to 36%, and there is even less support among those who disapprove of Trump’s job, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Impeach judges, by Trump approval

Among adults

 

The survey was conducted March 17-27, 2025, interviewing 1,021 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.

A large majority of the public, 83%, say the president must obey a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, while 17% say the president has the power to ignore such a ruling. The percentage saying he must obey a ruling has increased slightly from 79% in December to 83% in March, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Must president obey Supreme Court ruling

Among adults

 

Among Republicans, 78% say the president must obey the Court, as do 82% of independents and 90% of Democrats.

Of those who strongly approve of how Trump is handling his job, 76% say he must obey a Supreme Court ruling, as do 73% of those who somewhat approve, 84% of those who somewhat disapprove, and 94% of those who strongly disapprove.

The percentage saying the president must obey the Court is virtually the same for those who approve of the job the Court is doing, 83%, and for those who disapprove, 84%.

Approval of the Supreme Court’s job performance has increased to 54% in March, with 46% who disapprove. This is the highest approval since March 2022, when 54% also approved. This is still well below the high point of approval of the Court in Marquette Law School Poll surveys: 66% in September 2020. Table 3 shows the trend in approval of the Court in all Marquette surveys since 2020.

Table 3: Approval of the Supreme Court’s job performance

Among adults

 

The public is evenly divided in thinking whether the decisions of Supreme Court justices are motivated mainly by politics or mainly by the law, with 50% saying mainly politics and 50% saying mainly the law. This is a shift from July 2024, when 57% said mainly politics and 43% mainly the law. This moderate change to seeing less political motivation, however, is small in comparison to July 2021, when just 29% said mainly politics and 71% mainly the law.

Since July 2024, Democrats have shifted more than Republicans in their perception of the justices’ motivations. In July, 73% of Democrats said justices were motivated by politics, but in March 59% of Democrats said the same. Among Republicans, 41% said politics was the main motivation in July, while in March 38% said so. Independents became a bit more likely to see political motives in March, 59%, up from 55% in July.

Recent decisions

Attention to news about the Supreme Court rose in March, with 25% saying they heard a lot about the Court in the last month, up from 17% in January. Attention is highest in July after the Court releases major end-of-term decisions. In July 2024, 32% had heard a lot about the Court in the previous month.

Democrats were a bit more attentive to the Court in March, with 30% having heard a lot, compared to 22% of Republicans and 19% of independents.

In March, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to freeze some $2 billion in foreign aid payments, sending the case back to a lower court for further proceedings. This decision was favored by 58% and opposed by 42% of the public. Seventy-six percent of Democrats favored the decision, as did 60% of independents, while 61% of Republicans opposed the ruling.

Looking back to the July 2024 decision that held that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts as president, in the current poll 38% favor the decision and 62% oppose it. In this case, 65% of Republicans favor the ruling, while 71% of independents and 86% of Democrats oppose it.

In March, the Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was entitled to impose specific requirements on permit holders to prevent pollution but not to make the permit holders responsible simply because water quality has fallen below the agency’s standards. Opinion on this issue was closely divided, with 48% in favor and 52% opposed. Democrats and Republicans divided on this decision as well, with 59% of Republicans in favor of the ruling while 62% of Democrats were opposed. Independents split, 45% in favor and 55% opposed.

The public largely opposes the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision from 2022 overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states. A 62% majority oppose the Dobbs decision, while 38% favor it. There have been only modest shifts in opinion on this since 2022, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Favor or oppose Dobbs decision

Among adults

 

On this issue, 65% of Republicans favor the Dobbs decision, with 35% opposed. Among Democrats, 14% favor the ruling and 86% oppose it. Independents are mostly opposed, 71%, with 29% in favor.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, a ruling that 82% in the current poll favor, with 18% opposed. In 11 polls since the decision, at least 80% have approved of the ruling. Support is also strong across partisan groups, with 74% of Republicans in favor, along with 82% of independents and 89% of Democrats.

In December, the Supreme Court heard arguments challenging a Tennessee law that prohibits medical providers from prescribing puberty-delaying medication or performing gender transition surgery for youth under 18. Asked how they think the Court should rule, 72% said the Court should uphold the Tennessee law, while 27% said they should overturn the law. Republicans were nearly unanimously in favor of upholding the law, 90%, with 79% of independents in favor of upholding it. Democrats were almost evenly divided, with a slight majority, 52%, in favor of the law and 48% wanting it overturned.

In April, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case asking whether a state that generally funds charter schools as alternatives to traditional public schools may refuse to fund a charter school simply because it is explicitly religious. A majority, 57%, say the state may refuse to fund a religious charter school, while 43% say the state must fund the religious school. Republicans are closely divided, with 45% saying the state may refuse to fund the school and 55% saying the state cannot refuse to fund the school because it is religious. Sixty percent of independents say the state may refuse funding religious charter schools, as do 68% of Democrats.

On this issue, born-again Protestants are the most supportive religious group, with 58% saying the state must fund the school. Roman Catholics are evenly divided, with 50% on each side. Majorities of other religious affiliations say the state may refuse funding, as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Religious charter school, by religion

Among adults

 

Confidence in institutions

Confidence in national institutions ranges from slightly negative for the Supreme Court to quite negative for Congress, with the presidency in between them in terms of confidence. This poll finds a slightly positive rating for local school boards and a slightly negative rating for local TV news, as shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Confidence in institutions

Among adults

 

Confidence levels for the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court as institutions are strongly polarized by partisanship, and especially so for the presidency. Table 7 shows confidence by party identification for the national institutions.

Table 7: Confidence in national institutions, by party identification

Among adults

 

On the local level, school boards fare well compared to national institutions or local TV news. Partisan differences are seen here as well, but the degree of polarization is smaller for both school boards and local TV news than for any of the three national institutions, as shown in Table 8.

Table 8: Confidence in local institutions, by party identification

Among adults

 

Those who have attended local school board or city council meetings have a more positive net confidence in school boards than those who have not attended a meeting, as shown in Table 9.

Table 9: Confidence in local school board, by attended school board or city council meeting

Among adults

 

Confidence in local TV news is slightly net negative, but far less negative than confidence in national news media, when compared to January when respondents were asked about national media. At that time 12% had a great deal or a lot of confidence in national news media, while 59% had little or none. That is a net rating of -47 points, compared to a net -3 points for local TV news in the current survey.

About the Marquette Law School Poll

The survey was conducted March 17-27, 2025, interviewing 1,021 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.

Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. Certain other data from this survey (focusing on national political matters, were released on April 2). The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for this release are available on the Marquette Law School Poll website.

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:

Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition

• In March, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid, sending the case back to a lower court for further proceedings. How much do you favor or oppose this decision?

Trump v. United States

• In July 2024, 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?

City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency

• In March, the Supreme Court ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was entitled to impose specific requirements on permit holders to prevent pollution but not to make the permit holders responsible simply because water quality has fallen below the agency’s standards. 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?

United States v. Skrmetti

• In December, the Supreme Court heard arguments challenging a Tennessee law that prohibits medical providers from prescribing puberty-delaying medication or performing gender transition surgery for youth under 18. How do you think the Court should rule?

Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond

• In April, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case asking whether a state that generally funds charter schools as alternatives to traditional public schools may refuse to fund a charter school simply because it is explicitly religious. How do you think the Court should rule?

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About Kevin Conway

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