The public’s trust in the Supreme Court is at the lowest it has ever been in at least 50 years, following the court’s historic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The decrease in the public’s trust was most notable when comparing trust in 2021 and in 2022, with only 26% saying they had a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court in 2021, which fell to 18% in 2022. Meanwhile, the number of adults with hardly any trust in the Supreme Court rose to a record high of 36% in 2022, up from 21% in 2021, according to the poll released by the Associated Press-NORC Center.
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Confidence in the Supreme Court among women also drastically went down from 2021 to 2022, going from an already low 22% in 2021 to an even lower 12% in 2022. Confidence among men did not fare much better, going from 30% in 2021 to 24% last year.
Trust among both Democrats and Republicans has also decreased in recent years, with trust among Democrats going from 25% in 2021 to just 8% in 2022. Meanwhile, trust in the Supreme Court among Republicans saw a decline of 5%, decreasing from 31% in 2021 to 26% in 2022.
The poll was conducted from May 5 through Dec. 20 last year among 3,544 adults in the United States and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The findings of the poll come ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which the topic of abortion is expected to play a major role. Former President Donald Trump took credit on Wednesday for being responsible for ending Roe v. Wade, as he nominated three Supreme Court justices, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett, during his presidency, all of whom joined a 6-3 majority in voting to overturn Roe, returning decisions on abortion access to the states.
“Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection in 2024, responded to Trump’s statement, claiming on his Twitter account that “Trump and MAGA Republicans are responsible for killing Roe v. Wade.” Biden also warned that people who vote for such Republicans will “go even further.”
Trump, who announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election last November, has remained hesitant to support a federal abortion ban. Recently, Trump criticized a six-week abortion ban in the state of Florida, claiming that many anti-abortion activists felt it was too “harsh,” but refrained from opposing it completely.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has not yet announced his candidacy for 2024 but is seen by many to be Trump’s biggest rival, has defended the six-week ban, claiming that “almost probably 99% of pro-lifers support” protecting unborn children when “there’s a detectable heartbeat.”
“I signed the bill, I was proud to do it,” DeSantis said. “He won’t answer whether he would’ve signed it or not.”
