National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters
Conducted November 14-15, 2008
By Rasmussen Reports

1* Generally speaking, how do you rate the way that the Supreme Court is doing its job—Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor?

5% Excellent.
31% Good
42% Fair

18% Poor

4% Not sure.

2* Should the Supreme Court make decisions based on what's written in the Constitution and legal precedents or should it be guided mostly by a sense of fairness and justice?

65% What’s written in the constitution
29% It should be guided by fairness and justice
7% Not sure.

3* How does the Supreme Court work today? Does it make decisions primarily based on what's written in the Constitution and legal precedents or is it guided mostly by a sense of fairness and justice?

50% What’s written in the constitution
22% By fairness and justice
28% Not sure

4* Do most Supreme Court Justices have their own political agenda or do they generally remain impartial?

52% They have their own political agenda
25% They remain impartial
23% Not sure

5*When it comes to how you voted for President in Election 2008, how important an issue was the type of Supreme Court Justices a candidate would appoint?

52% Very important
29% Somewhat important
14% Not very important

2% Not at all important
3% Not sure

6* Will Supreme Court justices nominated by Barack Obama be too liberal, too conservative, or about right?

42% Too liberal

5% Too conservative

43% About right

11% Not sure

7* Does Barack Obama believe Supreme Court justices should decide cases based on what’s written in the Constitution and legal precedents or does he believe they should decide cases by a sense of fairness and justice?

35% What’s written in the constitution
43% By fairness and justice
22% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence