BBC News Online: World: Americas

America holds faith in Supreme Court

Similarly, at least two-thirds of the population believed the judgement was going to be a fair one - although public confidence in the court seems to have slipped since last week.

But the latest ABC/Washington Post opinion survey also shows a sharp rise in the number of people who believe the electoral system is flawed.

Partisan divide

According to the polls, 49% of Americans find "serious problems" in the way the country elects its leader, compared with 32% last month.

But in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, three-quarters of the sample considered the Supreme Court would be fair.

Asked which institution they most trusted to decide the case, 61% said the US Supreme Court, 17% plumped for Congress, 9% the Supreme Court of Florida and 7% the Florida legislature.

But while many consider the unsettled election a major problem, only 17% would describe it as a constitutional crisis.

Although public support for America's highest court remains high, there is a partisan divide with over 80% of Bush supporters believing it will be fair compared to under 50% of Gore supporters.

The ABC/Washington pollsters also found that confidence in the court has slipped by 10 points in the past week.

Just over half the people (51%) think the Supreme Court should have allowed the manual recounts to continue - with 48% saying it was right to halt them.