Just over half of Americans (53%) currently have an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court, while a smaller share (45%) views the court favorably.  

Opinions of the court have been relatively stable over the last few years, and favorable views remain close to a three-decade low, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. The survey was conducted July 6-12, 2026, shortly after the court’s 2025-26 term ended.

The court’s favorable rating is 20 percentage points lower today than in April 2021, when 65% of Americans held a positive view.

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at Americans’ views of the Supreme Court.

Why did we do this?  How did we do this? 

We surveyed 3,554 U.S. adults from July 6 to 12, 2026. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population.

Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

This analysis also uses data from a Center survey conducted Aug. 4 to 10, 2025. Here are the 2025 survey questions, along with the responses, and the survey methodology.

How Democrats and Republicans see the Supreme Court

A quarter of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents view the Supreme Court favorably. That is similar to recent years and one of the lowest favorable ratings of the court from either party in the more than 30 years since we first asked the question.

As recently as 2021 – before the court’s 2022 decision to overturn the federal right to abortion – nearly two-thirds of Democrats had a favorable impression of the court.

By contrast, Republicans and GOP leaners are much more likely to view the high court favorably, with 69% having a positive opinion. Republicans’ opinions of the court have changed much less than Democrats’ in recent years.

Perceptions of the Supreme Court’s ideology

More than four-in-ten Americans (43%) view the Supreme Court as conservative. A similar share (44%) view it as “middle of the road.” Only 9% describe the court as liberal.

Public perceptions of the Supreme Court’s ideology have not changed much in the past few years. Compared with 2020, however, Americans are now more likely to describe the court as conservative.

Democrats remain more likely than Republicans to view the Supreme Court as conservative:

• 67% of Democrats say this, compared with 19% of Republicans.
• 66% of Republicans and 27% of Democrats say the court is middle of the road.
• 13% of Republicans say the court is liberal, compared with 5% of Democrats.

Views of the Supreme Court’s power

More than half of Americans (56%) say the Supreme Court has the right amount of power, while 32% say it has too much power. One-in-ten say the court has too little power.

Americans’ views on the Supreme Court’s power are nearly identical to what they were last year. However, the share saying the court has too much power is lower than it was between 2022 and 2024.

Among Democrats, 43% say the court has too much power. That’s unchanged from a year ago, but down 19 points from 2024.

Republicans continue to be more likely than Democrats to say the court has the right amount of power (71% vs. 44%). Republicans’ views on how much power the court has have changed little in the past few years.

Demographic differences in views of the Supreme Court

There are only modest gender differences in views of the Supreme Court: 49% of men and 42% of women view it favorably.

Two-thirds of Black adults (67%) express an unfavorable opinion of the court. That compares with roughly half of Hispanic (55%), White (50%) and Asian adults (48%).

Among adults under 50, a 56% majority views the court unfavorably, while 41% view it favorably. By contrast, half of those 50 and older have a favorable opinion, while 48% have an unfavorable one.

Americans with a college degree or more education are also more likely than those without a degree to view the court negatively (56% vs. 51%).

Differences in views of the court within each party

Though few Democrats view the Supreme Court positively, those with lower levels of educational attainment see it more positively than those with greater levels of education do. The opposite is true among Republicans.

• 29% of Democrats with some college or less education view the court favorably, compared with 19% of Democrats with at least a bachelor’s degree.
• 77% of Republicans with a bachelor’s degree or more have a favorable opinion of the court, compared with 65% of Republicans without a college degree.

In addition, older Republicans continue to view the high court more favorably than younger Republicans do. Three-quarters of Republicans ages 50 and older see the court positively, while 62% of those under 50 say the same.

Supreme Court justices and their political views in court

We also asked Americans in an August 2025 survey whether they think Supreme Court justices’ political views should be part of their decision-making.

Overall, 86% said the justices should not bring their political views into decision-making. Just 12% said they should.

Equal majorities of Democrats and Republicans (87%) said the justices should not bring personal politics into decisions.

In addition, 14% of Americans said the justices do an excellent or good job of keeping politics out of decision-making, while 56% said they do an only fair or poor job.

Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to say the justices don’t do a good job keeping personal politics out of their decisions:

• 69% of Democrats said the justices do an only fair or poor job in this respect. Just 6% said they do an excellent or good job.
• Republicans were more divided: 47% said the justices do an only fair or poor job at this, while 24% said they do an excellent or good job.

Note: Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology. This is an update of a post originally published July 21, 2023, by Katy Lin and Carroll Doherty. It was updated previously on Sept. 3, 2025, by Joseph Copeland.