Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Americans' favorite Supreme Court justice, a new poll finds.
According to the survey by the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling group,
19 percent of respondents picked Ginsburg as their "favorite" jurist, while Justice Clarence Thomas tallied the most votes overall as the "least favorite," picked by 18 percent.
The results were politically driven, the poll finds.
Though Thomas was the least favorite overall, 21 percent of Republicans picked him as their favorite, making him the top GOP choice.
And though Ginsburg was favored overall, 25 percent of Republicans said she was their least favorite — more than double the next most unpopular justice among Republicans, Justice Elena Kagan, the poll finds.
Likewise, Ginsburg's popularity increased when measured among Democrats. Thirty-one percent of Democrats picked her as their favorite; 28 percent of Democrats said Thomas was their least favorite.
"Almost all of the justices are polarizing along party lines,"
the polling group said.
"Republicans have a positive opinion and Democrats have a negative opinion of [John] Roberts, [Samuel] Alito, Thomas, and [Antonin] Scalia. Democrats have a positive opinion and Republicans have a negative opinion of Ginsburg, [Stephen] Breyer, [Sonia] Sotomayor, and Kagan."
The pollster said only Justice Anthony Kennedy got positive ratings across party lines, with 33 percent support of Democrats and 26 percent support of Republicans.
"Taken together, these findings show the Supreme Court — both collectively and most members individually — is just about as polarizing along party lines as anything else in Americans politics these days," the PPP concludes.
Other survey findings show:
— America overall has a dim view of the Supreme Court, with 35 percent favorability and its unfavorability at 41 percent
— 59 percent of Republicans say the court is too liberal, and 45 percent of Democrats thinking it's too conservative. Overall, 33 percent think the high court is too liberal, 29 percent think it's about right, and 27 percent think it's too conservative.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent.