81% of 2024 Harris Voters Say Supreme Court Is Biased in Trump's Favour, Poll Finds

An overwhelming 81% of registered voters who supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election believe the United States Supreme Court operates with a distinct institutional bias in favour of President Donald Trump, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted from 4 September to 8 September 2026.

The poll surveyed 1,616 US adult citizens, including 1,469 people who said they were registered to vote or planned to register before the November election.

YouGov reported an approximate 3.4-percentage-point margin of error for the overall sample. The court-bias figures cited below come from the registered-voter crosstabs.

With overall institutional disapproval climbing to 56% and nearly half of all registered voters arguing that recent rulings have dangerously expanded executive authority, the poll arrives as a high-stakes flashpoint less than two months before the crucial November midterm elections.

Analysts warn that these stark perceptual divides threaten judicial legitimacy, transforming constitutional interpretation into a partisan battleground that continues to shadow federal governance, legislative oversight, and the broader electoral landscape across the United States.

Poll Shows Partisan Split Over Perceived Supreme Court Bias

Among registered voters, 44% said the Supreme Court was biased in Trump's favour, while 12% said it was biased against him. Another 27% said the court treated Trump fairly and 18% were unsure.

Views were sharply divided by the 2024 presidential vote. While 81% of Harris voters said the court favoured Trump, 9% of Trump voters said the same. By contrast, 51% of Trump voters said the court treated him fairly, while 19% said it was biased against him.

Party identification produced a similar divide. 77% of Democrats said the court was biased in Trump's favour. Among Republicans, 48% said the court treated Trump fairly, 20% said it was biased against him, and 11% said it favoured him.

Independents were more divided. 44% said the court was biased towards Trump, 23% said it treated him fairly, and 8% said it was biased against him. A quarter were unsure.

The figures measure voters' perceptions of the Supreme Court and do not establish that the justices themselves are politically biased or acting on Trump's behalf.

Supreme Court Approval Falls Among Registered Voters

The September poll also found that 56% of registered voters disapproved of the way the Supreme Court was handling its job, compared with 34% who approved.

Asked about the court's ideological direction, 49% of registered voters described it as conservative, 28% called it moderate and 10% said it was liberal. Another 13% were unsure.

The survey also asked whether recent Supreme Court decisions had given the president too much, too little or about the right amount of power. 47% of registered voters said the decisions had given the president too much power, while 30% said the amount was about right. 8% said the president had been given too little power and 15% were unsure.

Respondents were split into two randomly assigned groups for questions about compliance with Supreme Court orders. Among the half asked whether presidents should generally always obey Supreme Court orders, even when they believe the court is wrong, 62% of registered voters said yes.

Among the other half, who were asked specifically whether Trump should always obey Supreme Court orders under the same circumstances, 73% said yes, 11% said no, and 16% were unsure.

July Poll Shows Divided Views of Individual Justices

A separate Economist/YouGov poll conducted from July 3 to 6 surveyed 1,603 US adult citizens and reported an approximate 3.3-percentage-point margin of error for the overall sample.

That survey found positive net favourability ratings for the court's three liberal justices: Sonia Sotomayor at plus 10 points, Ketanji Brown Jackson at plus eight and Elena Kagan at plus six. All six conservative justices recorded negative net favourability ratings.

Jackson was viewed favourably by 34% of respondents and unfavourably by 26%. Chief Justice John Roberts was viewed favourably by 25% and unfavourably by 36%, while Amy Coney Barrett recorded 23% favourable and 38% unfavourable. Clarence Thomas was viewed favourably by 29% and unfavourably by 41%.

The September findings arrive less than two months before the 3 November midterm elections, placing public attitudes towards the Supreme Court within a broader political debate over presidential power and the judiciary.