Why have so many Americans come to mistrust the Supreme Court?

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The Supreme Court opens its 2022 term on Oct. 3 with its lowest public approval rating in modern history, which the justices are acutely aware of. One reason is that the court issued some highly controversial decisions last term — most notably, the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

But this is only part of the story.

Other important political officials have tarnished Americans’ opinions of the court, and public trust in democratic institutions and processes has dropped more generally as well.

That matters. With no independent enforcement power for their decisions, the justices rely on public respect for the court’s legitimacy. Yet they’re not necessarily in charge when trying to improve public approval for the court. CONTINUED

Paul M. Collins Jr. (UMass Amherst) & Artemus Ward (Northern Illinois U.), Monkey Cage

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Win or lose, progressive challengers have influenced the Democrats’ agenda

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Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016. He lost, but his run inspired a movement to continue his “political revolution.” …

The 2022 congressional primaries recently ended. About 70 Sanders-style progressives ran, fewer than in previous years. Seven won primaries in strongly Democratic districts. However, only one defeated a Democratic incumbent. That’s the fewest since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise victory over Joseph Crowley in 2018.

Some argue that progressives’ primary losses show their momentum declining. But my research finds that even when they lose, progressive insurgents influence the policy positions and priorities of the incumbent — and the broader Democratic Party. The post-Sanders progressives have a lot to do with Democrats’ ambitious agenda under President Biden. CONTINUED

Amelia Malpas (Yale), Monkey Cage

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Ticket-splitting voters were going extinct. Now they may decide 2022’s biggest races.

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Ticket-splitters are back, and they’re playing a starring role in the chaotic 2022 campaign. In battleground states from Georgia to New Hampshire to Ohio, a potentially decisive slice of voters tell pollsters they’re supporting a Democrat for one high-profile office and a Republican for another.

Nowhere is the dynamic clearer than in Pennsylvania. “What you’re seeing is a repudiation of extremism,” Morgan Boyd, a Republican and a Lawrence County commissioner who endorsed the Democratic nominee for governor, Josh Shapiro, but is backing GOP Senate nominee Mehmet Oz, said in an interview. “Across the board, moderates are rising up and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’” CONTINUED

Sahil Kapur, Allan Smith & Jonathan Allen, NBC News

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Alaska’s Special House Race Stunned America. Here’s What November Could Bring.

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… As more and more jurisdictions consider ranked choice voting — and as the discussion over how to temper political polarization nationwide remains unresolved — many political observers have wondered whether Alaska is a state that might point the way to a more moderate, more nuanced way of doing politics. Ivan Moore is a longtime Alaska pollster who is considered one of the foremost experts on the state’s politics. And he has some thoughts about what the rest of the country can learn from Alaska, what to watch for in November and what came first: Alaska’s independence, or the state’s ranked choice experiment that allowed those independents to have more of a say. CONTINUED

Ben Jacobs, Politico Magazine

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Maryland: Wes Moore leads Dan Cox in Gov. race by 2-to-1 margin, Post-UMD poll finds

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Maryland Democrat and political newcomer Wes Moore holds a 32-percentage-point lead over Donald Trump-aligned Republican Dan Cox in the governor’s race five weeks before Election Day, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds.

Moore, a veteran and best-selling author, appears to have consolidated support among the Democrats who make up the majority of the electorate, with the poll finding 86 percent of registered Democrats saying they would vote for him if the election were held today. But 22 percent of registered Republicans also say they would vote for him in November, leaving Cox with a slim — if existent — path to victory. CONTINUED

Scott Clement, Emily Guskin, Ovetta Wiggins & Erin Cox, Washington Post

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The polls and polling with Anna Greenberg

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Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel talk with Anna Greenberg of GQR about the polls headed into the midterms and the broader conversation around the value of public polling in our extremely partisan environment.

Words Matter Podcast

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