Trump's conservative Supreme Court has a surprising new problem with Republicans

WASHINGTON, DC: The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority is confronting an unexpected political problem -  Republicans are rapidly losing confidence in it. A new Gallup poll released Tuesday, July 28, found just 58% of Republicans approve of the court's performance, a dramatic fall from 79% in September 2025.

The 21-point collapse stands out because conservatives spent years building the current majority, including through President Donald Trump's appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Gallup said rulings unfavorable to the Trump administration this term may be weighing more heavily on Republican attitudes, suggesting frustration is growing with a court the GOP once overwhelmingly celebrated.

Republican support suddenly collapses

The Republican shift helped push the Supreme Court's overall approval rating to 33%, the lowest Gallup has recorded since it began asking the question in 2000.

That represents a six-point decline from the previous July low of 39%.

But the partisan breakdown tells the more surprising story. Democratic approval stands at just 12%, while 35% of independents approve, figures that have changed relatively little since September. Republican approval, by contrast, plunged from 79% to 58%.

The reversal is particularly striking given the court's ideological makeup. Republicans' approval has generally remained above 60% since Trump began reshaping the bench in 2017.

Trump setbacks may explain frustration

Gallup specifically pointed to decisions involving tariffs and birthright citizenship as possible reasons Republican enthusiasm has cooled.

The court delivered a major setback to Trump on June 30 in Trump v. Barbara, ruling that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Justice Kavanaugh wrote separately that Trump's executive order also conflicted with existing federal law, saying Congress would need to legislate if it wanted to create new exceptions to birthright citizenship.

Those outcomes complicate the assumption that a conservative majority will necessarily deliver the administration's preferred result in every major dispute.

Gallup cautioned that the Republican decline "may indicate" unfavorable Trump rulings are influencing GOP views rather than establishing them as the definitive cause.

Court's broader standing deteriorates

The Republican revolt is unfolding against a much longer decline in public confidence.

When Gallup first measured Supreme Court job approval in 2000, 62% of Americans approved. Majority support continued through much of the following decade before increasing polarization pushed ratings largely into the 40s. 

Democratic confidence collapsed particularly sharply after the conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, and Democratic approval has remained near historic lows.

The newest numbers reveal something different: dissatisfaction is no longer being driven primarily by Americans hostile to the court's conservative direction.

Now Republicans themselves are contributing heavily to the decline.