Supreme Court Decides, Public Divides
Court decisions do not mirror public opinion

Public reactions to some of the most visible and important recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court vary widely. A larger than three-to-one majority approves of one of the decisions while an even larger four-to-one majority disapproves of another. Specifically:

• A 72 percent to 19 percent majority agrees with the decision that “it is not illegal for consenting adults to have homosexual sex in their own homes.”
• A 76 percent to 19 percent majority disagrees with the decision that “a university is allowed to use race as one of several factors when deciding whom to admit.”
• A 48 percent to 38 percent plurality agrees with the decision that “a defendant accused of murder should not be convicted if he does not have a competent lawyer to defend him.”

These are three of the results of The Harris Poll conducted online between July 14 and 20th with 2,215 adults nationwide. Harris Interactive used the same methodology for this survey as it did to predict the 2000 elections with great accuracy.

This Harris Poll also finds large differences between Republicans and Democrats and between those with a particular interest in the topic. Specifically:

• While majorities of all segments we looked at approve the decision allowing consensual homosexual sex in private, those who disagree with it vary from 32 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of heterosexuals to only 13 percent of Democrats and 7 percent of those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual.
• While a 58 percent to 30 percent majority of Democrats agrees with the 48 percent plurality of all adults that a defendant accused of murder should not be convicted if he does not have a competent lawyer, this decision is opposed by 48 percent to 38 percent plurality of Republicans.
• The 19 percent of the public, which agrees with the Supreme Court decision that a university may use race as one factor when deciding who to admit, includes 29 percent of Democrats but only 10 percent of Republicans and 19 percent of Independents. Furthermore, while only 12 percent of whites and 20 percent of Hispanics approve of this decision, a 60 percent majority of blacks support it.
  
  

Humphrey Taylor is the chairman of The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive.
editorial@lanereport.com

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