Depending on voters’ political party and ideology, Barack Obama’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will either be too liberal or about right. Very few, however, expect his choices for the high court to be too conservative.

Forty-two percent (42%) of voters say Supreme Court justices nominated by the next president will be too liberal, while 43% say they will be about right, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just five percent (5%) say they will be too conservative, and 11% are undecided.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans and 11% of Democrats think Obama’s nominees will be too liberal. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Democrats and 10% of GOP voters say they will be about right. Five percent (5%) of voters from both parties believe his candidates will be too conservative.

Undecided voters by 11 points say Obama’s selections for the court will be too liberal.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index for Monday shows Obama enjoying his highest ratings yet at +20. That’s up 12 points since the night after the election (see trends).

Similarly, 74% of conservatives say Obama’s picks will be too liberal, while 76% of liberals think they will be about right. Moderates opt for about right by a 59% to 25% margin.

Forty-six percent (46%) of men say the nominees will be too liberal, compared to 38% of women. Fifty percent (50%) of female voters think they will be about right versus 35% of men. Just two percent (2%) of women and seven percent (7%) of men say they will be too conservative.

Only 30% of government workers think Obama’s nominees will be too liberal, while 53% say they will be about right.

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Forty-three percent (43%) of all voters say Obama believes justices should decide cases by fairness and justice rather than what’s written in the U.S. Constitution. Thirty-five percent (35%) say Obama thinks justices should be strict constructionists, making their decisions based on the word of the Constitution. Twenty-two percent (22%) are undecided.

This puts Obama at odds with findings in a separate new survey that 65% of voters believe the Supreme Court should rule based on what’s written in the Constitution, although 29% think they should be guided by fairness and justice. Seven percent (7%) are not sure.

But just 50% of voters believe the high court’s decisions are actually based on the word of the Constitution. Twenty-two percent (22%) say the actual decisions are based on fairness and justice, with 28% undecided.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of Republicans and 40% of Democrats believe the new president will opt for justices who have a conservative legal view, abiding by what’s written in the Constitution. But nearly half of GOP voters (48%) and 39% of Democrats think he prefers justices who take the more liberal judicial view, making decisions based on fairness and justice. Unaffiliated voters by 17 points think the new president will choose justices governed more by fairness and justice.

White voters by a slight margin think Obama will favor nominees who decide cases based on fairness and justice, while African-American voters are evenly divided over which of the two Obama will prefer.

Fifty-two percent (52%) rate the president’s appointment of Supreme Court justices as Very important, with another 29% saying it’s somewhat important. Only two percent (2%) believe it is not at all important.

Just over one-third of voters (36%) say the current Supreme Court is doing a good or excellent job, while 18% rate their performance as poor.
These numbers have been relatively consistent for some time, although the court got somewhat of a spike in support after it knocked down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban on Second Amendment grounds.

These numbers are explained in part by the fact that only 25% think the high court justices remain impartial. Fifty-two percent (52%) believe they have their own political agenda, and 23% are not sure.

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