Sixty-percent (60%) of voters believe Supreme Court Justices have their own political agendas, while just 23% believe they remain impartial, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Those sentiments are similar along all party lines and among voters of varying ideological beliefs. More men (66%) than women (54%) believe Justices have their own political agendas. While 25% of women believe the justices to be impartial, only 20% of men agree.

The fate of the Supreme Court has been a hot issue among the presidential candidates over the past week. Barack Obama has suggested that John McCain will appoint conservative judges that would likely overturn Roe v. Wade. He also stressed that lower courts will be influenced by who is elected president and can make the country “a little more fair or a little less fair.”

John McCain also slammed the Supreme Court for its decision to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees to challenge their sentences in U.S. court. McCain fears this decision will threaten the security of the country by allowing the courts to be “flooded with habeas corpus suits against the government.”

A separate survey conducted in May found that most Republicans see judicial appointments as more important than the War in Iraq in terms of how they will vote in November.

The Rasmussen survey found that most voters (54%) believe the Supreme Court should base its decisions on what is written in the constitution and legal precedent, rather than on the judge’s concept of fairness and justice. Thirty-seven percent (37%) take the opposite view. There are distinct differences between men and women on this question. Men strongly favor following the Constitution and precedent while women are fairly evenly divided.

In terms of actual practice, less than half of adults (46%) say the Supreme Court bases its decisions on what is written in the Constitution. Twenty-seven percent (27%) disagree and believe the Justices base their decision making on perceptions of fairness and justice.

The survey also found that ratings of the Supreme Court have gotten worse over the past month. Under a third of voters (31%) give the Supreme Court good or excellent ratings; that percentage is down from 41% last month. A fifth of voters (21%) say the Supreme Court is doing a poor job. Ratings have ranged from a high of 43% to a low of 31% since November.

In terms of how they will vote this year, 54% consider potential Supreme Court appointments to be very important, while 32% see it as somewhat important.

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