The Supreme Court’s popularity among Republicans has taken a serious dive, a new Gallup poll finds, while Democrats have embraced the court more than ever.
According to the survey released Thursday, 76 percent of Democrats approve of the Supreme Court, up from 47 percent in September 2014, while Republican approval has sunk 17 percentage points to the current 18 percent in the same time period. In the meantime, approval among Independents has increased slightly, from 46 percent to 49 percent.
Gallup used telephone interviews to survey 1,009 adults nationwide between July 8-12, 2015, for a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The survey comes after the Supreme Court decided a number of big cases that roiled conservatives. Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee, along with five other justices, upheld Obamacare’s federal subsidies in late June. Days later, the high court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide by a 5-4 vote. Some, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a Harvard-educated lawyer who is running for President, are calling for Supreme Court justices to be subjected to retention elections every eight years.
