U.S. Supreme Court approval falls to 33% amid Kansas Supreme Court retention election

A Gallup poll released after the 2025‑2026 term shows public approval of the United States Supreme Court has dropped to a historic low of 33%, with disapproval rising to 61%. The decline is driven chiefly by a sharp fall in Republican support, which fell from 79% to 58% after the Court issued several high‑profile rulings that conflicted with former Trump administration policies.

In Kansas, voters will decide on August 4 whether to keep the state’s nonpartisan, merit‑based system for selecting Supreme Court justices or replace it with partisan elections. The current process involves a diverse nominating commission that recommends three candidates to the governor, who then appoints one; justices later face statewide retention elections. After a 2016 effort by special‑interest groups to remove justices over unpopular rulings failed, similar groups are now pushing for partisan elections, arguing that the merit system should be abandoned.