SCOTUS Approval Rating Lowest Since 1995

The Supreme Court hasn’t been this unpopular since the year YouTube was founded and Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. The Court sits at a 41 percent job approval rating, according to a Gallup poll, down slightly from September. The numbers are low but not surprising. The Court’s approval rating has vacillated between 43 and 49 percent over the last five years, and hasn’t been above 50 percent since September 2010. The numbers surely reflect the last few months, in which the Court deadlocked on several important issues following the death of late Justice Antonin Scalia. With the Republican Senate refusing to hold hearings on President Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, the Court fell 4-4 on issues including immigration. Democrats were more likely to approve than Republicans, with left-leaning respondents giving the Court a 60 percent approval rating, as opposed to just 32 percent approval from conservatives.