What Americans Really Think About Court-Packing

First Liberty Institute commissioned the following polls from Mason Dixon Polling & Strategy – two nationwide poll and two statewide polls in West Virginia and Arizona – revealing nearly two-thirds (2/3’s) of Americans oppose adding seats to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The nationwide poll suggests that 65% of all respondents oppose court-packing. Importantly, self-identified Independent voters also reject plans to pack the court (65% opposed).

You can download the results of the latest national poll here.

You can download the results of the 2021 national poll here.

You can download the results of the statewide polls for West Virginia here and for Arizona here.

HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED

This poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida from May 13 through May 18, 2022. A total of 1,100 registered voters were interviewed nationwide by telephone.

Those interviewed were randomly selected from a nationwide voter registration list that included both land-lines and mobile phones. Quotas were assigned in order to reflect voter registration by state.

The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than ±3 percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the “true” figure would fall within that range if all voters were surveyed. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender or age grouping.

QUESTION: DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE ENDING THE FILIBUSTER IN THE United States SENATE?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
SUPPORT	38%	35%	41%	72%	11%	31%	44%	33%
OPPOSE	50%	55%	46%	19%	82%	50%	43%	56%
UNDECIDED	12%	10%	13%	9%	7%	19%	13%	11%

QUESTION: THE FILIBUSTER REQUIRED STHAT 60 SENATORS MUST VOTE FOR A BILL BEFORE IT CAN COME TO THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE FOR A FINAL VOTE. IT IS DESIGNED AS A CHECK ON THE POWER OF THE U.S. House of Representatives, WHICH CAN MOVE LEGISLATION THROUGH VERY QUICKLY WITH SIMPLE MAJORITY VOTES. THE FILIBUSTER IS DESIGNED TO SLOW THE PROCESS SO THAT THERE IS MORE DEBATE AND THAT FINAL APPROVAL OF A LAW HAS SOME LEVEL OF BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT. BASED ON THIS INFORMATION DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE ENDING THE FILIBUSTER IN THE SENATE?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
SUPPORT	40%	34%	45%	76%	12%	33%	48%	33%
OPPOSE	52%	59%	46%	16%	83%	56%	46%	57%
UNDECIDED	8%	7%	9%	8%	8%	11%	6%	10%

QUESTION: DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE AMENDING THE U.S. CONSTITUTION TO CHANGE THE STRUCTURE OF THE U.S. Supreme Court?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
SUPPORT	26%	23%	29%	45%	5%	27%	33%	19%
SHOULD NOT	64%	71%	57%	38%	91%	63%	53%	74%
NOT SURE	10%	6%	14%	17%	4%	10%	14%	7%

QUESTION: FOR OVER YEARS, THE United States Supreme Court HAS HAD NINE JUSTICES. “COURT-PACKING” IS GENERALLY DEFINED AS INCREASING THE NUMBER OF Supreme Court SEATS, PRIMARILY TO ALTER THE IDEOLOGICAL BALANCE OF THE COURT. DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE “COURT-PACKING”?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
SUPPORT	24%	21%	27%	41%	3%	28%	27%	22%
OPPOSE	65%	73%	58%	40%	91%	65%	60%	69%
UNDECIDED	11%	6%	15%	19%	6%	7%	13%	9%

QUESTION: IF YOUR U.S. SENATOR VOTED TO REMOVE THE FILIBUSTER RULE AND PACK THE Supreme Court, WOULD YOU MORE LIKELY TO VOTE TO RE-ELECT HIM OR HER OR LESS LIKELY TO VOTE TO RE-ELECT HIM OR HER?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
MORE LIKELY	28%	24%	32%	52%	7%	24%	31%	26%
LESS LIKELY	57%	61%	53%	33%	79%	59%	15%	62%
NO EFFECT	15%	15%	15%	15%	14%	17%	18%	12%

QUESTION: WITHIN THE LAST TWO WEEKS, A DRAFT OPINION BEING CIRCULATED REGARDING A MAJOR CASE BEFORE THE U.S. Supreme Court WAS LEAKED TO THE MEDIA, SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY. DO YOU APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE OF THE LEAKING OF THIS Supreme Court DOCUMENT?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
APPROVE	19%	14%	23%	27%	8%	22%	23%	15%
DISAPROVE	73%	80%	67%	58%	91%	71%	65%	80%
NOT SURE	8%	6%	10%	15%	1%	7%	12%	5%

QUESTION: GIVEN THE EVENTS OF THE LAST TWO WEEKS, WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE A MORE FAVORABLE OPINION?

	NATIONWIDE	MALE	FEMALE	DEMS	REPS	INDS	<50	50+
MORE	12%	11%	13%	2%	27%	9%	9%	14%
LESS	40%	37%	43%	69%	8%	41%	46%	35%
NO CHANGE	48%	52%	44%	29%	65%	50%	45%	51%

DEMOGRAPHICS

PARTY	Democrat	365 (33%)
	Republican	347 (32%)
	Independent/Other	388 (35%)

AGE	18-34	188 (17%)
	35-49	281 (26%)
	50-64	304 (28%)
	65+	322 (29%)
	Refused	5

RACE/ETHNICITY:	White/Caucasian	703 (64%)
	Black/African American	137 (12%)
	Hispanic/Latino	166 (15%)
	Other/Refused	94 (9%)

GENDER ID:	Male	521 (47%)
	Female	572 (52%)
	Other	7 (1%)

REGION:	Northeast	220 (20%)
	Midwest	210 (19%)
	South	350 (32%)
	West	130 (12%)
	Pacific Coast	190 (17%)