The Pew Research Center recently did a survey on Americans opinions on the United States Supreme Court. The survey was done between July 8th and 14th of a random national sample of 1,805 adults, and has a margin of error of 2.7 points.
I was a bit surprised. I had expected a fairly low opinion of the court, since it has made decisions that has angered both ends of the political spectrum. But most groups had a majority approving of the court, which is much better than any other branch of the federal government (with the president hovering below 50% support and Congress way down into single digits).
One group did have less than 50% support for the court -- liberals (like myself). That's not too surprising. While the court angered conservatives with they decision supporting most of Obamacare, they have made many more decisions that disgusted liberals (Citizens United, invalidating much of the Voting Rights Act, Hobby Lobby, etc.).
The responses were also interesting when the respondents were asked which way they thought the court leaned politically. Two groups, Democrats and liberals, thought the court leaned toward the conservatives -- but most of the other groups (including the general public) had pluralities saying the court was in the middle of the road politically. This included the teabaggers, which had the only majority (51%) saying this was a middle of the road court.
Is it a middle of the road court? I don't think so, but a lot of Americans seem to think so. What do you think?
