U.S. Supreme Court approval rating falls 4 points since March

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WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- For the first time in three decades, less than 50 percent of Americans approve of the Supreme Court, a Pew Research Center poll indicates.

Forty-eight percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the job the Supreme Court is doing while 38 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

The approval rating is down from 52 percent approval in a poll done in March before the court's decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act, Pew said.

Pew found the greatest change in approval came from black Americans, 61 percent of whom viewed the Supreme Court favorably in March. Forty-four percent of blacks view the court favorably in the most recent poll.

Fifty-four percent of Democrats, 48 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of independents view the court favorably. The partisan gap has narrowed since a poll last July in which 64 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of Republicans viewed the court favorably.

Pew Research Center interviewed 1,480 adults July 17-21. The survey had a 3 percentage point margin of error.