California voters by a 2-1 ratio

margin

disapproves of the U.S. Supreme Court’s work, describing it as too conservative and its rulings driven by politics, according to a new survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies co-sponsored by The Times.

The national survey, conducted online last month, showed a sharp divide based on voters’ party identification.

Overall, 29% of respondents said they approved of the court’s work, while 59% disapproved. But Republicans leaned in the opposite direction. About 59% of those who identify as Republicans said they approved of the court, while only 30% disapproved.

In contrast, Democrats and supporters of President Biden strongly opposed it. Only 13% of Democrats said they approved of the Supreme Court, while 78% disapproved. Additionally, 53% said they were “strongly disapproved” by the court.

2020 Biden and Trump voters were asked whether the court is too conservative. Yes, said 76% of Biden voters. Only 7% of Trump voters agreed.

The California poll results are consistent with similar national polls from the past year, reflecting the Supreme Court’s shift to the right following the arrival of President Trump’s three appointees.

Over the past two years, the court has struck down the constitutional right to abortion and college affirmative action policies, expanded gun rights, sharply limited climate change regulations and rejected Biden’s plan to forgive millions of student loans.

In all of these rulings, the Court’s conservative Republican appointees were in the majority, while the three liberal Democratic appointees dissented.

By a

wide

On the margins, California voters surveyed said they felt the court’s rulings were based more on politics than law.

Overall, 66% said the rulings were “driven more by the judges’ personal political preferences,” while 23% said they

goods

“more guided by law and the constitution.”

Many, but not most, Republicans agreed. While 50% said they believed the rulings were based on law, 41% said they reflected the judges’ personal political preferences.

By a similarly wide margin, the state’s voters agreed with Democrats in Congress that the Supreme Court needs an enforceable code of ethics.

Seventy-one percent of respondents said judges need “an enforceable code of ethics.” About 87% of Democrats agreed, as did 48% of Republicans.

Since April, ProPublica has been a nonprofit investigative organization

research

group, has reported on a series of lavish, free and secret vacation trips that Judge Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, took with Texas billionaire Harlan Crow.

Thomas said he viewed the trips as “personal hospitality” from an old friend, which need not be made public. But earlier this year, judicial authorities revised the guidelines to clarify that private plane travel does not fall under the ‘personal hospitality’ exemption and must be disclosed.

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. was also the target of criticism for taking a paid fishing trip to Alaska in 2008

for

in part by Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who later won a landmark Supreme Court ruling in an Argentine bankruptcy case. Alito did not reveal the details

original

journey and did not withdraw from the

later

case.

Last week, Alito said he would not withdraw from an upcoming case on whether some investments and accumulated wealth should be taxed as if they were income.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Alito should recuse himself because he sat for a Wall Street Journal article co-authored with Washington lawyer David Rivkin , who writes frequent opinion articles. Rivkin is also one of the family’s attorneys in the Moore vs. tax case. USA

Alito said judges must decide for themselves whether to recuse themselves from pending cases, and he said he was confident he could decide the legal issue impartially based on the law and the Constitution.

Although political partisans are divided in their views on the court’s work, the survey results show no clear divisions based on respondents’ race or ethnicity. However, there were differences based on gender, education and family income.

More women (64%) disapproved of the court’s work, compared to 55% of men. While 57% of high school students disapproved of the court, that percentage rose to 64% among college graduates and to 67% among those with degrees.

post-college

postgraduate education.

When asked whether the court was too conservative, only 44% of those with incomes under $40,000 said yes, but that percentage rose to 64% among those with incomes over $200,000 per year.

The survey was administered online in English and Spanish from August 24 to 29

,2023,

among California’s 6,030 registered voters.