More Democrats than Republicans like how U.S. justices rule

A recent Gallup poll shows that 57 percent of Democrats approve of the way the United States Supreme Court handles its job. Nearly the same percentage of Republicans disapprove of how the justices are ruling.  The court starts its 2012 term Monday.

Overall, 49 percent of people polled approve of the way the Supreme Court handles its job, and that is one of the lowest approval ratings since Gallup began asking this question in 2000. The average approval rating is 54 percent.

The poll results also show that a majority of Republicans think the court is too liberal and more than a third of Democrats see the court as too conservative. Nearly one-fifth of Independents indentify the court as too liberal or too conservative, with half saying the court’s ideology is just right. Half of Independents also approve of the way the court handles its job.

As Gallup points out, these poll results are affected by the court’s rulings, as is shown by the increase of Democratic approval after the court upheld the health care law in June.

If you’re a visual person, click here to see these figures in charts and graphs.