The Supreme Court’s popularity among the American public — particularly among blacks — has dipped to an historic low, according to new findings released Wednesday by Pew Research Center.
Pew found that, for the first time in almost three decades of polling, the Supreme Court’s favorability rating has fallen below 50 percent. Forty-eight percent said they have a favorable opinion of the high court, down from 52 percent in March. The latest survey showed that 38 percent have an unfavorable opinion, a 7-point increase since March.
The decline in the public’s opinion toward the court was even steeper among blacks, perhaps a reaction to the controversial decision to invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the piece of the landmark 1965 civil rights law that required certain states and counties with histories of racial discrimination to receive preclearance from the Department of Justice before implementing any changes to their voting or election laws.
Blacks are now almost evenly split in their view of the Supreme Court: 44 percent said they have a favorable opinion compared with 41 percent who have an unfavorable opinion. In March, Pew showed that 61 percent of blacks had a favorable view of the court while almost a quarter said they have an unfavorable view.
A survey last week from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found that more than half of voters in North Carolina — which includes a number of counties that had to obtain preclearance from the Justice Department — disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision on the VRA.
