Trust in the justice system has fallen to an all-time low, and just 53 percent of people polled now have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the courts, according to a new Gallup poll.
That’s a huge drop from 10 years ago, when nearly 70 percent said they could trust the judicial branch.
Trust in the other two branches of government is also low, as just 45 percent trust the executive branch, and only 32 percent trust the Congress. But trust in the judicial branch had the biggest decline. Seventy-six percent of Americans trusted the judicial branch shortly after President Obama took office.
That drop is more pronounced in Republicans than in Democrats and Independents. Republican trust in the judiciary branch fell from 59 percent in September 2014, to 42 percent in September 2015, likely a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare and legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
Americans are also more likely to call the Supreme Court “too liberal” now, a view that jumped from 30 percent to 37 percent in the last year. Among Republicans, this sentiment has jumped from 51 percent to 63 percent over the same time.
The poll of roughly 1,000 American adults nationwide was conducted Sept. 9-13 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
