A majority of voters lack confidence the U.S. Supreme Court would be politically neutral in resolving potential legal challenges around the 2024 presidential election, a survey from Pew Research Center found.
Only 20% of registered voters polled are highly confident the court can be unbiased, but they’re split on party lines — with 34% of those supporting Donald Trump expressing confidence in the court’s neutrality, versus 6% for Vice President Kamala Harris’ backers.
Three of the nine justices on the court are appointees of former President Donald Trump. The court now has a 6-3 conservative majority that in July at least temporarily derailed Trump’s criminal prosecution for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election by partially backing his claims of presidential immunity.
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While more than 165 lawsuits already have been filed over the election, there is no guarantee any of them will wind up being resolved by the Supreme Court.
The Pew poll overall shows a majority of Americans believe the election will run smoothly, but they also divide on party lines. Among Harris supporters, 90% say they are at least “somewhat confident” that the vote will be administered well, while only 57% of Trump supporters expressed that optimism.
The Pew Research Center surveyed 5,110 U.S. adults — including 4,025 registered voters — from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, 2024. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.7%.
The survey comes as the country braces for possible turmoil around Election Day. During the last presidential race, unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and abuse led Trump supporters to riot on Capitol Hill.
Among Harris supporters, 85% are confident the election results will be clear after all votes are counted, whereas 58% of Trump supporters are “very” or “somewhat” confident the result will be obvious, the poll found.
Only 32% of Trump voters believe election systems in the U.S. are secure from hacking and other technological threats, compared to 73% of Harris supporters.
Overall, Harris supporters are more confident in the 2024 election than President Joe Biden’s supporters were in 2020, according to the Pew survey.
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