WASHINGTON -- The public's image of the Supreme Court has eroded over the past few years, with just over half of those in a new poll saying they have a favorable view of the high court.
With major changes expected as aging justices leave the bench, 57 percent of people had a favorable view of the court in the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Only Justice Clarence Thomas, who is 56, is under the age of 65. Nominations of new justices are likely in the coming months and years.
For more than a decade, at least seven in 10 people had a favorable view of the high court. In January 2001, just after the court ruled that President Bush was the winner of the 2000 election, 68 percent had a favorable view.
Democrats grew more negative about the court after the 2000 decision on the election, and 51 percent of Democrats now have a positive view. But conservative Republicans have been growing more negative in their views of the court, the poll found. Favorable opinions of the court have dropped by 20 points among conservative Republicans and white evangelical Christians since January 2001.
Details here from the AP via the Washington Post.