Supreme Court chief justice has highest approval rating in Gallup poll

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts secured the highest approval rating among U.S. officials at 48 percent in a new Gallup poll measuring support of top leaders.

While no U.S. official clinched a majority showing of support, Roberts came the closest, with nearly 50 percent of Americans approving of him and 46 percent disapproving.

The poll noted that while Roberts had the highest rating, he also had the “steepest decline” in support since December 2021, when 60 percent approved of his job performance.

A close second was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who received a 46 percent approval rating in the poll.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken won 45 percent support, while Attorney General Merrick Garland won 44 percent.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had the lowest approval rating, with just 27 percent supporting the Republican leader and 71 percent disapproving of him.

President Biden had the next lowest approval rating after McConnell, at 39 percent.

Gallup noted that the new House leadership’s ratings are “on par” with previous leaders. The poll said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has the same approval rating as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did in December 2021 at 40 percent. Gallup also found that Jeffries’s 46 percent approval rating matched former Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) about two years ago, when he was the minority leader.

Gallup found that Democrats were overall more supportive of their own party’s leaders than Republicans were of theirs; 80 percent of Democrats approved of Jeffries, and 76 percent approved of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). On the other hand, 61 percent of Republicans approved of Johnson and only 36 percent approved of McConnell. 

The poll was conducted Dec. 1-20 among 1,013 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.