Public Willing to Accept Supreme Court as Final Arbiter of Election Dispute

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll conducted before Tuesday night's dramatic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Florida recount situation indicated that the American public was willing to go along with the Court's decision, regardless of which candidate it favored. The poll, conducted Sunday, December 10, showed that 73% of Americans said they would accept the Supreme Court's decision on this matter as a "legitimate outcome no matter which candidate it favors," while only 19% said that the Supreme Court's decision would not be a legitimate outcome.

The public also believes the U.S. Supreme Court is the best institution to make the final decision on who will be the next president. When asked which of four institutions they most trust with this decision, a strong majority -- 61% -- chose the U.S. Supreme Court. Only 17% said they trust the U.S. Congress most, 9% say the Florida State Supreme Court, and just 7% say the Florida legislature. The Supreme Court is the most trusted institution for every demographic and political subgroup, including both Bush and Gore supporters.

This support for a Supreme Court decision occurs despite the fact that a majority of the public, 51%, believes that the Supreme Court justices are being influenced by their personal political views when deciding the case. Gore supporters are much more likely to think this than are Bush supporters, by a margin of 65% to 36%. Despite this, 72% of the public overwhelmingly feels the Court's decision will be fair, while only 17% think it will not be fair. Again, Bush supporters are more optimistic about the Court's ability to hand down a fair ruling, as 87% of them expect it to be fair, as do 54% of Gore supporters.

Most Do Not See Continuing Election Controversy as a Crisis
No doubt as a result of the rapidly occurring legal decisions which have been forthcoming in the situation, half of Americans on Sunday admitted they were confused by the recent court rulings regarding the presidential election in Florida, while 49% said they were not confused. Still, Americans were only slightly more likely at that point to think the uncertainty about the next president represents a "constitutional crisis" than they did earlier in the dispute. In the Sunday poll, 17% of Americans said the situation represents such a crisis, compared to 10% who indicated that in a late November poll and 15% who said the same immediately following the election. On Sunday, 46% saw it is a "major problem" compared to 50% in late November and 49% in mid-November.

Twenty-nine percent of Americans on Sunday said that it bothers them "a great deal" that courts will apparently decide the final outcome in this year's presidential election, while 32% are bothered "a fair amount" and 37% are not bothered much, if at all. These numbers are essentially unchanged from a poll conducted November 19. While the overall numbers are not changed, there is a great deal of change beneath the surface. Interestingly, Bush supporters were much more bothered by a judicial resolution to the dispute in the earlier poll (47% bothered a great deal) than they are in the latest poll (32% bothered a great deal). Gore supporters show a reverse pattern, where more are bothered a great deal today (30%) than they were several weeks ago (19%).

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 735 adults, 18 years and older, conducted December 10, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. Polls conducted entirely in one day, such as this one, are subject to additional error or bias not found in polls conducted over several days.

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling could ultimately decide who will be the next president. Which comes closer to your view -- [ROTATED: I would accept it as a legitimate outcome no matter which candidate it favors (or) I would not accept it as a legitimate outcome]?

 

	Legitimate	Not legitimate	No opinion
2000 Dec 10
National adults	73%	19	8
Gore supporters	65%	27	8
Bush supporters	80%	12	8
No preference	76%	17	7

Do you think the U.S. Supreme Court will be fair or unfair in deciding this case?

 

	Fair	Unfair	DEPENDS (vol.)	No opinion
2000 Dec 10
National adults	72%	17	3	8
Gore supporters	54%	31	4	11
Bush supporters	87%	5	2	6
No preference	70%	15	5	10

If it comes down to a choice of these four, which of the following would you most trust to make the final decision on the selection of the next president -- [ROTATED: the U.S. Congress, the Florida legislature, the Supreme Court of Florida, (or) the Supreme Court of the United States]?

 

	U.S. Congress	Florida legislature	Florida Supreme Court	U.S. Supreme Court	OTHER (vol.)	No opinion
2000 Dec 10
National adults	17%	7	9	61	2	4
Gore supporters	18%	1	16	59	2	4
Bush supporters	16%	13	4	64	1	2
No preference	16%	3	12	54	7	8

Overall, do you think the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are being influenced by their personal political views when deciding this case, or don't you think so?

 

	Yes, influenced	No, not influenced	No opinion
2000 Dec 10
National adults	51%	42	7
Gore supporters	65%	26	9
Bush supporters	36%	59	5
No preference	58%	34	8

Would you say you are confused by the recent court rulings regarding the presidential election in Florida, or not?

 

	Yes, confused	No, not confused	No opinion
2000 Dec 10
National adults	50%	49	1
Gore supporters	53%	46	1
Bush supporters	48%	51	1
No preference	48%	50	2

Which of these statements do you think best describes the situation that has occurred since the election for president -- [ROTATED: it is a constitutional crisis, it is a major problem for the country but is not a crisis, it is a minor problem for the country, (or) it is not a problem for the country at all]?

 

		Constitutional crisis	Major problem	Minor problem	Not a problem	No opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
National adults
2000 Dec 10		17	46	25	9	3
2000 Nov 26-27		10	50	29	9	2
2000 Nov 19		10	44	32	12	2
2000 Nov 11-12 ^		15	49	25	9	2
Gore Supporters
2000 Dec 10		19	45	20	12	4
2000 Nov 26-27		11	45	34	10	*
2000 Nov 19		8	41	35	15	1
2000 Nov 11-12 ^ †		17	49	23	9	2
Bush Supporters
2000 Dec 10		16	50	27	7	*
2000 Nov 26-27		9	55	26	7	3
2000 Nov 19		13	49	29	8	1
2000 Nov 11-12 ^ †		14	50	27	8	1
No Preference
2000 Dec 10		18	36	31	9	6
2000 Nov 26-27		11	52	27	9	1
^	WORDING: Which of these statements do you think best describes the situation that has occurred since Tuesday's election for president -- [ROTATED: it is a constitutional crisis, it is a major problem for the country but is not a crisis, it is a minor problem for the country, (or) it is not a problem for the country at all]?
†	"Gore Supporters" based on those who voted for Gore; "Bush Supporters" based on those who voted for Bush.

As you may know, several courts are now involved in the Florida election process, and court decisions may end up determining the final outcome. Does this bother you -- a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or not at all?

 

	A great deal	A fair amount	Not much	Not at all	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
National adults
2000 Dec 10	29	32	24	13	2
2000 Nov 19	30	29	23	17	1
Gore Supporters
2000 Dec 10	30	28	25	15	2
2000 Nov 19	17	27	34	21	1
Bush Supporters
2000 Dec 10	32	37	21	9	1
2000 Nov 19	47	31	14	7	1
No Preference
2000 Dec 10	18	27	31	17	7

* Less than 0.5%