(PresidentialInsider.com)- A recent Marquette Law School poll conducted the week after Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion was leaked, found that Republican approval of the Supreme Court has increased over the past two months, but among Democrats and Independents, disapproval of the court has grown.
Overall, 44 percent of all respondents said they approve of the job of the Supreme Court while 55 percent disapproved. This was the first time approval for the Court has dropped below 50 percent since 2017.
Among Republicans, 68 percent approve of the Supreme Court, up from 64 percent in March. Meanwhile, a staggering 73 percent of Democrats disapproved of the court while only 26 percent approved. In March, 49 percent of Democrats had approved of the court.
While approval for the court also dropped among Independents, the shift wasn’t nearly as dramatic. In March, 44 percent of Independents approved of the Court while 53 percent disapproved. In the most recent poll, approval among Independents dropped to 38 percent while disapproval increased to 59 percent.
The Marquette poll also revealed Americans’ ignorance of Roe v. Wade.
Only 31 percent of respondents said they favored overturning Roe v. Wade.
At the same time, the majority of respondents, 51 percent, also said they favor Mississippi’s law restricting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.
This is a fundamental problem with polling on Roe v. Wade. Many Americans assume overturning Roe would make abortion illegal in the United States. Since most Americans don’t want abortion to be completely banned, they say they don’t want Roe overturned.
At the same time, the vast majority of Americans want restrictions on abortion – either limiting it to the first trimester (AKA 15 weeks) or the first and second trimesters.
But those restrictions can only happen if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
The survey also found that 69 percent of respondents support the 2015 Supreme Court that overturned bans on same-sex marriage. A solid majority, 66 percent, also say they agree that the Second Amendment protects the individual’s right to possess a gun outside the home.
