PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' opinions of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts are now much more negative than they were seven years ago, with the most recent reading coming soon after he joined the four Democratic appointees on the court to uphold the U.S. healthcare law. Republicans' favorable rating of Roberts is down 40 percentage points from 2005, while Democrats' is up 19.

Gallup did not measure Americans' opinions of Roberts between September 2005 and the most recent survey, conducted July 9-12. It is a reasonable assumption, however, that a good deal of the shift in attitudes occurred as a result of the June 28 Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, a ruling whose majority opinion was written by Roberts.

Roberts, considered to be a conservative jurist, was nominated in 2005 by Republican President George W. Bush, first as an associate justice, and then, after the death of William Rehnquist, as chief justice. He was confirmed by the Senate and took the constitutional oath on Sept. 29, 2005. Republicans were more positive about Roberts at that point than either Democrats or independents. Americans overall broke 50% favorable to 17% unfavorable in 2005, with one-third saying they had no opinion.

Now, in the aftermath of the decision that upheld Democratic President Barack Obama's signature first-term legislative accomplishment, Republicans' views are the least positive among the three partisan groups, their attitudes about Roberts having shifted dramatically from a +63 net positive to a -17 net negative. Democrats' opinions shifted over the same period from a +4 to a +35, while those of independents mirrored the national pattern, moving from a +30 to a +10. Americans overall are still more positive than negative about Roberts, 39% to 29%, but this +10 margin is significantly smaller than the +33 in 2005.

Republicans' Opinions of Supreme Court Also Plummets

Mirroring their shift in views of Chief Justice Roberts, Republicans have become much more negative about the Supreme Court since last September. Democrats have become more positive. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans now approve of the court's job performance, down from 50%, while disapproval has doubled to 64% from 32%. Democrats' attitudes flipped in the opposite direction, with approval rising to 68% from 46%. Independents' attitudes have stayed roughly the same, as have the views of all Americans combined.

The current 46% who approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing is, along with last year's reading, one of the lowest measured over the last 11 years.

Implications

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, anchored by Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion, has apparently caused a major shift in Republicans' and Democrats' views of both the court and Roberts. Whereas Republicans were initially highly favorable toward Roberts in 2005, when he was considered a conservative justice appointed by a conservative Republican president, their opinions are now more negative than positive. Democrats, initially evenly split in their views of Roberts, now appear to be big fans, with a +35 net favorable over unfavorable rating.

Opinions about the U.S. Supreme Court more broadly have shifted in similar fashion. Republicans and Democrats had roughly similar favorable opinions of the court last September. Now, about two-thirds of Republicans have an unfavorable opinion, while about the same percentage of Democrats have a favorable opinion.

These views may mellow over time as the immediacy of the June 28 decision on the healthcare law fades. Plus, next year's Supreme Court docket promises new decisions on a list of other potentially highly controversial issues. At the moment, however, both the court and Chief Justice Roberts have fallen out of favor with the GOP, while Democrats view them in a favorable light.