Washington Post-Ipsos Poll: 46% Say Supreme Court Rulings Follow Political Views

A decline in public confidence in the Supreme Court's impartiality, if sustained, could affect the institutional legitimacy the Court relies on to enforce its rulings without executive or...

Nearly half of American adults — 46 percent — believe the Supreme Court decides cases involving Trump administration policies based on the justices' political views rather than the law, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted in early July 2026 and reported by The Hill on July 18, 2026. Only one-quarter of respondents said they believe the Court rules based on the law, with the remainder expressing uncertainty or mixed views.

The poll did not break down respondents by party affiliation in the summary reported by The Hill, making it unknown whether the confidence gap is driven primarily by Democratic, Republican, or independent respondents. A full partisan crosstab would be available in the Washington Post-Ipsos poll's complete methodology release, which had not been publicly published in full as of this report's publication date.

Public confidence surveys of the Supreme Court have been conducted periodically by Gallup, Pew Research Center, and other organizations. A Gallup poll from September 2023 found Supreme Court approval at 40 percent, the lowest recorded in that series at the time. The current Washington Post-Ipsos figure represents a distinct question — whether rulings are ideology-driven rather than law-driven — and is not directly comparable to approval ratings from prior surveys.

The Supreme Court's current term has included rulings on multiple cases directly involving the Trump administration's executive actions. The specific cases and their outcomes would be found in the official Supreme Court docket, publicly available at supremecourt.gov. None of the nine current justices had issued public statements in response to the poll findings as of July 18, 2026.

What remains unknown: the poll's full sample size, margin of error, exact question wording, and partisan breakdown of respondents. The Washington Post's release of the complete poll methodology and crosstabs would answer each of these questions. It is also unknown whether confidence levels differ significantly across demographic groups such as age, education level, or geographic region — data the full poll release would contain.