Voter Survey Shows Nearly Half View Supreme Court as Favoring Donald Trump

A new Economist/YouGov poll of 1,469 registered voters, fielded September 4-8, found that 44 % believe the Supreme Court is biased in favor of President Donald Trump, while only 12 % say it is biased against him. The poll’s margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.

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• 27 % of respondents said the Court treats Trump fairly; 18 % were unsure.

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• Partisan splits are stark: 81 % of voters who backed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race see the Court as favoring Trump, versus 9 % of Trump supporters.

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• Among Democrats, 77 % perceive a pro-Trump bias; among Republicans, 20 % say the Court is biased against Trump and roughly half say it treats him fairly.

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• Independents are divided, with 44 % seeing a pro-Trump tilt, 23 % saying the Court is fair, and 8 % perceiving bias against Trump.

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• Overall approval of the Court’s performance dropped to 34 % approving and 56 % disapproving, down from a July poll that recorded 36 % approval and 50 % disapproval.

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• The share describing the Court as “conservative” rose from 44 % in July to 49 % in the latest survey; the “liberal” label remained near 10 %.

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The survey highlights a deep partisan divide in how the judiciary’s impartiality is judged. Democratic voters overwhelmingly view the Court as aligned with Trump, while Republican voters are far more likely to see it as neutral or even biased against the president. Independents fall in between, reflecting a less uniform assessment.

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Favorability ratings for several justices have declined since a comparable poll a year earlier. Justice Amy Coney Barrett received a 23 % favorable versus 38 % unfavorable rating; Justice Clarence Thomas was viewed favorably by 29 % and unfavorably by 41 %; Chief Justice John Roberts held a 25 % favorable rating against 36 % unfavorable; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson retained a 34 % favorable versus 26 % unfavorable rating.

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The poll was conducted as the Court faces a growing docket of election-related cases ahead of the November midterms, including recent decisions on congressional maps and rulings affecting the Trump administration. Public perception that the Court is granting Trump “too much power” (47 % of respondents) could shape voter attitudes toward candidates’ positions on judicial independence and the role of the Supreme Court in electoral disputes. The Court has not responded to requests for comment.

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