Republicans Turn On Supreme Court

Supreme Court building with columns, fountain, and statue. — SUPREME COURT BOMBSHELL

Republican support for the Supreme Court just collapsed, dragging the Court’s overall approval rating down to the lowest point Gallup has ever measured.

Quick Take

Only 33% of Americans now approve of the Supreme Court, a new record low in Gallup’s tracking.
Republican approval fell from 79% to 58% in just one year, while Democrats and independents barely moved.
The drop follows major 2026 rulings on tariffs, birthright citizenship, and the Federal Reserve.
Disapproval of the Court hit a record high of 61%, according to the same poll.

A Record Low Driven by One Party

Gallup’s latest numbers show a Court in trouble with its own usual fan base. Just 33% of Americans approve of the job the justices are doing, down six points from the prior record low set last year. Disapproval climbed to 61%, also a new high. The real story isn’t a general public turning on the Court. It’s Republicans walking away in droves.

Republican approval fell from 79% to 58% in a single year, according to Gallup’s own tracking of party gaps. Democratic and independent views barely budged during that stretch. That lopsided shift matters. A whole institution didn’t suddenly become less trustworthy to everyone. One side of the aisle got angry about specific outcomes it didn’t like.

Supreme Court approval hits record low as Republicans' support declines https://t.co/3aEWQziDNn

— CNBC Politics (@CNBCPolitics) July 28, 2026

Semafor’s review of the same data put it plainly: this decline is being driven almost entirely by Republicans, not by a broad national mood shift. That distinction should worry conservatives more than a flat drop in approval would. It suggests the Court’s own coalition is reacting to specific rulings, not just general dissatisfaction with government.

Three Rulings That Split Trump’s Base

The timing lines up with three headline-grabbing decisions. The Court struck down President Trump’s sweeping tariff plan in a 6-3 ruling, saying his unilateral authority didn’t stretch that far. It rejected his effort to limit birthright citizenship. And it took up a fight over his power to remove a Federal Reserve board member, testing how far a president can go in reshaping independent agencies.

The birthright citizenship case landed hardest. The Court ruled that children born on U.S. soil to parents here illegally or temporarily are still citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment, dealing Trump a stinging defeat on one of his top priorities. For Republicans who expected the Court’s conservative majority to back the administration, that outcome cut deep.

These weren’t small technical rulings buried in legal jargon. They were three of the biggest fights of Trump’s second term, all landing against him within the same stretch of months. When a Court a party helped build turns down that party’s president three times running, frustration among the base isn’t surprising. It’s predictable.

What the Numbers Don’t Explain

Gallup’s approval has actually sat in the low 40s since 2021, meaning the Court wasn’t riding high before this year’s rulings hit. That context matters. This isn’t a beloved institution suddenly falling from grace. It’s a long-struggling one taking another hit, this time from its own usual supporters rather than its usual critics.

A separate Washington Post-Ipsos poll found 46% of Americans believe the Court bases rulings on ideology rather than the law. That’s a serious charge, and one worth taking seriously regardless of party. But a poll number alone can’t tell us whether the tariff, citizenship, and Federal Reserve rulings were legally sound or a break from precedent. That answer requires reading the actual opinions, not just the approval numbers.

What’s clear is that Republicans expected a friendlier outcome and didn’t get one. Whether that reflects a Court drifting from its constitutional role, or simply a Court following the law even when it disappoints its own coalition, is the argument conservatives should be having right now. The polling tells us people are upset. It doesn’t tell us who’s right.