Originally published by Arjun Singh at the Daily Caller News Foundation | Photo: Alamy
The Supreme Court’s approval rating has increased after it ruled that states could not disqualify former President Donald Trump from their 2024 ballots, according to a new poll published by Marquette University Law School on Wednesday.
The Court, in Trump v. Anderson, ruled that the Colorado secretary of state could not prohibit Trump from appearing on the ballot in the 2024 presidential election for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, surrounding the storming of the U.S. Capitol, which the state’s supreme court had argued disqualified him under Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Following that ruling, the Court’s approval rating increased by seven percentage points to 47%, though 53% of respondents still disapprove of its performance, according to the poll.
“This is the highest approval of the Court since January 2023, when it was also 47% with 53% disapproving. The last time approval was greater than 50% was [in] March 2022, when it was 54%,” Marquette University noted in its press release about the poll. 56% of respondents supported the Court’s decision in Anderson, according to the poll.
The Court’s approval rating declined in 2022 shortly after the leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ruled that there is no constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
The Court has granted certiorari on a number of cases related to Trump during its current term. Apart from the decision in Anderson, it has agreed to hear the case of Trump v. United States, where he has claimed constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution for actions committed during his presidential term.
Regarding that case, 62% of respondents in the poll believed that a former president should not have immunity after they leave office. When asked whether Trump, specifically, should have immunity, the figure fell to 56% in opposition.
When asked about what motivated the justices’ rulings, respondents were evenly split about whether they think “politics” or “the law” are the reasons for the Court’s decisions. Chief Justice John Roberts has often rebuffed the notion that the Court is motivated by political considerations.
The poll was conducted between March 18 and 28, 2024, and surveyed 1,000 adults across the United States. The margin of error was +/-4 percentage points.