Confidence in Supreme Court Swings Whopping 40 Points Since Amy Coney Barrett Joined: New Poll Finds

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The latest Yahoo/YouGov poll on Americans’ confidence in the Supreme Court shows a stunning deterioration in faith in the high court since it was last conducted 20 months ago – just days before Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s expedited confirmation.

The poll last gauged Americans’ confidence in the court in September 2020, during the few days between liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and then-President Donald Trump nominating Coney Barrett.

At that time, the poll found that 70 percent of registered voters had either “some” or “a lot” of confidence in the Supreme Court – 50 and 20 percent respectively.

Only 23 percent said that had “a little” confidence in the court, while 7 percent said that had “none.”

Skip ahead to today and the new poll “found that registered voters have swung from mostly having confidence in the Supreme Court — by a colossal 40-point margin — to being evenly split on the question,” notes Yahoo’s Andrew Romano. The erasure of the 40-point margin marks a stunning swing in confidence away from the court.

The latest poll of 1,577 U.S. adults was conducted in the days after last Monday’s leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito signaling the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The new survey found Americans being evenly split on whether or not they have confidence in the court.

Half of voters said they had “some” or “a lot” of confidence in the court – 37 and 14 percent respectively. Meanwhile, 24 percent of registered voters said they have “a little” confidence in the court, while a whopping 26 percent now have “none.”

Among all Americans, the poll found that 53 percent new say they have no or “a little” confidence in the Supreme Court – 28 and 25 percent respectively.

Romano notes that the poll offers insights into why the confidence in the court has eroded so profoundly, so quickly.

He points out that while respondents are split on whether or not the leak was a good thing, “the ideological shift of the Supreme Court may be the bigger issue.”

Romano breaks down the numbers:

In September 2020, 29% of registered voters saw the court as either “conservative” (25%) or “very conservative” (4%). Today, that combined number is 44%, with nearly six times as many voters as before saying “very conservative” (22%).

Among registered voters who are Democrats, the share who say “conservative” or “very conservative” has shot up from 42% to 58%; among independents, it has jumped from 29% to 41%; and even among Republicans it has risen from 16% to 31%. The overall share of registered voters who describe the court as “moderate” has fallen nearly 10 points over the same period, to 30%.

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