Toplines - Supreme Court - October 22-23, 2009

National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters
Conducted October 22-23, 2009

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?

7% Excellent
36% Good
40% Fair

14% 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?

70% What’s written in the constitution
25% It should be guided by fairness and justice
6% 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?

44% What’s written in the constitution
29% By fairness and justice
28% Not sure

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

55% They have their own political agenda
29% They remain impartial
15% Not sure

5* In political terms is the Supreme Court too liberal, too conservative, or about right?

36% Too liberal

20% Too conservative

35% About right

9% Not sure

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