30% Say Supreme Court Doing Good or Excellent Job, 21% Say Poor

Despite its lack of high-profile decisions in recent weeks, the number of U.S. voters who give the Supreme Court positive ratings has fallen to its lowest level in over four years.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 30% of Likely Voters say, generally speaking, the Supreme Court is doing a good or excellent job.  Twenty-one percent (21%) rate its performance as poor, the highest negative finding since November. (To see survey question wording, click here.)  

In early January, the first survey conducted since its newest member, Justice Elena Kagan, actively participated in a court hearing, 38% gave the Supreme Court positive marks on its job performance. The court's good/excellent ratings have generally run in the mid-to upper 30s in surveying since November 2006.

Thirty-six percent (36%) continue to believe the Supreme Court is too liberal, while 24% say it’s too conservative.  Another 31% say the ideological makeup of the high court is about right.  These findings have changed little since July 2009.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on March 28-29, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.