Gallup: Only 37% of Americans highly confident in Supreme Court

July 2 (UPI) -- On average, Americans are expressing a relatively low level of confidence with the U.S. Supreme Court, a new survey finds.

According to a Gallup poll Monday, the largest share -- 42 percent -- have "some" confidence in the high court, and 18 percent have "very little" or "no" confidence.

The research was conducted before the high court revealed decisions last week on President Donald Trump's so-called "travel ban" crisis pregnancy centers and union obligations, and before Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement.

The survey marks the 14th consecutive year the high court's confidence rating has been below its historical average of 44 percent.

The survey also showed Congress continues to be regarded as the worst of the three branches of government, with just an 11 percent high confidence rating and a 48 percent low rating. The executive branch has an identical 37 percent high confidence rating, but a 44 percent low confidence rating.

Views of the Supreme Court are polarized, Gallup said, adding that 44 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the high court, compared with just 33 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Gallup said recent Supreme Court decisions have "drawn Democrats' ire."

"Trump's nominee to replace Kennedy is likely to be a staunch conservative, which will do nothing to inspire confidence in the high court from Democrats," the pollster said.

"To date, Democrats' lowest confidence rating for the Supreme Court was 26 percent in 2008, as Bush's presidency was drawing to a close. The next year could conceivably see Democrats' confidence sink lower than that."

The figures were based on a random sample of 1,520 adults, and has a margin of error of 3 points.