In a year in which the Supreme Court came under heavy fire from Democrats’ for its ruling that overturned Roe v Wade, voters are split on the high court’s job performance -- in contrast to overwhelming disapproval of how Congress is doing its job.
The Fox News Voter Analysis survey found that, among voters nationally, 51% approve of how the Supreme Court is doing its job, 49% say they disapprove.
Among those voters, 16% strongly approve and 23% strongly disapprove.
The court was in the spotlight this year for its June decision in the case of Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization -- which overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which found a constitutional right to an abortion.
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That decision drew praise from Republicans and anger from many Democrats, some of whom renewed their calls to radically overhaul the court, including packing it with additional judges – a once fringe idea that had gained traction among Democratic activists and lawmakers in recent years.
Those calls had gained momentum during the Trump administration, when President Trump nominated three justices to the court -- shifting the court’s makeup to the right. Perhaps the most marked shift came from Trump's nomination of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 after Ginsburg died just months before the general election. Democrats had demanded Trump hold off on nominating a justice until after the election – a demand the then-president rejected.
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President Biden last year announced a commission to "provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals." However, proposals to pack the Court are widely seen as unlikely to have the votes to pass.
Meanwhile, voters were much more united in their disapproval of how Congress is doing its job.
The Fox News Voter Analysis survey found that 72% disapprove of how Congress is doing its job, with 28% approving. Just 6% strongly approved of how Congress is handling its job, while 39% strongly disapproved.
However, despite the overwhelming disapproval, the numbers for Congress are a slight improvement from 2020 -- where 76% of voters disapproved of how Congress was handling its job.
