The number of Americans who say they trust the Supreme Court fell 20 percentage points in the last two years, with only 47% saying they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the Supreme Court, USA Today reports.
The percentage of Americans who trusted the Court dropped by 13 percentage points in 2021, after Donald Trump and Senate then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett while voters were casting their ballots in the 2020 election. In 2016, McConnell refused to recognize a SCOTUS nomination made by Barack Obama, saving the seat for the winner of the 2016 election because, McConnell claimed without merit, voters should decide the seat, which sat vacant for more than a year.
The poll also shows the public’s disapproval of the Court’s work, with only 40% stating they approved, down 18 percentage points from 2020. Unsurprisingly, Republicans disproportionately supported the conservative-stacked Court.