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Overall approval of Supreme Court drops 10% following draft opinion leak, MU poll shows

Supreme Court
Posted at 5:47 AM, May 25, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-25 10:22:20-04

MILWAUKEE — Marquette University Law School released its latest poll results Wednesday, showing a drop in overall approval of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Summary of Results:

Since March, and since the leak of the draft opinion regarding Roe vs Wade, support for the national high court has dropped by 10%.

Two months ago, 54% of those polled approved of the job the court was doing. 45% disapproved. Now, those numbers stand at 44% approving of the court and 55% disapproving.

Looking back even further, approval of the Supreme Court stood at 66% back in September of 2020 and 60% in July 2021.

According to Marquette Law School, approval had dropped sharply in September of 2021 after the court rejected a request to block enforcement of a Texas law, known as S.B. 8, which bans most abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, at around six weeks of pregnancy.

ApproveDisapprove
9/8-15/206633
7/16-26/216039
9/7-16/214950
11/1-10/215446
1/10-21/225246
3/14-24/225445
5/9-19/224455

These most recent results were collected a week after the Roe vs Wade draft opinion was leaked, May 9-19. The survey interviewed 1,004 adults nationwide.

When looking at the numbers by political party, approval has dropped 23 percentage points among Democrats and 6 percentage points among Independents. Approval rose by four percentage points among Republicans, according to Marquette.

The University said approval of the court is more sharply polarized along party lines than it was two months ago.

In March, the approval percentage gap between Democrats and Republicans was 15 percentage points. Now, it's 42 percentage points.

March 2022

Party IDApproveDisapprove
Republican6435
Independent4453
Democrat4951

May 2022

Party IDApproveDisapprove
Republican6832
Independent3859
Democrat2673

Since the leak, the public opinion on overturning Roe vs Wade has hardly changed. Back in March, 32% of people were in favor of overturning the decision and 68% were against it. Those numbers only changed by 1%.

The latest results show 31% in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade and 69% against it.

Poll datesFavor overturningOppose overturning
9/3-13/193268
9/8-15/203763
9/7-16/212872
11/1-10/213070
1/10-21/222872
3/14-24/223268
5/9-19/223169

Marquette Law School's national survey also asked people about how much they've read or looked into, the leaked draft opinion regarding Roe vs Wade.

Those polled could select from three answers: A lot, a little, or nothing at all.

According to the results, 40% of Republicans have read a lot, 39% said they read a little, and 20% said they read nothing at all. 49% of Democrats said they read a lot, 32% said they read a little, and 19% said they read nothing at all.

You can read the full poll results from Marquettehere.

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