Using data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined public knowledge about the Constitution and courts: the impact of court exposure and news sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts, perceptions of bias in the courts, and willingness to curb the power or inﬂuence of the courts. The surveys were conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, the reported results are drawn from the 2006 survey

Hennessy, Michael

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall

English

Kosmopolis

University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons
Departmental Papers (ASC) Annenberg School for Communication
1-1-2007
Public Understanding of and Support for the
Courts: Survey Results
Kathleen Hall Jamieson
University of Pennsylvania, kjamieson@asc.upenn.edu
Michael Hennessy
University of Pennsylvania, mhennessy@asc.upenn.edu
Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers
Part of the Communication Commons
This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352
For more information, please contact libraryrepository@pobox.upenn.edu.
Recommended Citation
Jamieson, K. H., & Hennessy, M. (2007). Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results. The Georgetown Law
Journal, 95 (4), 899-902. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352
Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results
Abstract
Using data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined public knowledge about the Constitution
and courts: the impact of court exposure and news sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts,
perceptions of bias in the courts, and willingness to curb the power or influence of the courts. The surveys
were conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for
the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus or
minus three percent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, the reported results
are drawn from the 2006 survey.
Disciplines
Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences
This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352
Public Understanding of and Support for the
Courts: Survey Results
KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON AND MICHAEL HENNESSY*
INTRODUCTION
Using data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined public
knowledge about the Constitution and courts: the impact of court exposure and
news sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts, perceptions of bias
in the courts, and willingness to curb the power or influence of the courts. The
surveys were conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton Survey
Research Associates International for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the
University of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus or minus three
percent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, the
reported results are drawn from the 2006 survey.
We found that public knowledge about both the Constitution and the courts is
low. At the same time, Americans consistently rank the Supreme Court as the
most trusted branch of government and hold a similar level of trust in state
courts. But many also believe that the nation’s courts favor the wealthy and
politically connected, that judges are motivated by political and personal biases,
and that they are influenced by campaign fundraising. While public trust in the
courts in the U.S. remains high, public doubts that the courts are actually
impartial, public concern about the role of money in the election of state judges,
and public ignorance about basic constitutional functions served by the Su-
preme Court are worrisome because they contribute to perceptions that courts
are too powerful, a disposition to permit a president to defy the Supreme Court
under some circumstances, and a willingness to impeach judges for unpopular
rulings. What follows are select results from the survey that reflect these public
opinions.
I. KNOWLEDGE
Many Americans are ignorant of basic civics. When asked if they knew any of
the three branches of government, two-thirds of Americans said yes; one-third
could correctly name all three and one-third could not name any.
A. HOW KNOWLEDGEABLE IS THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT THE COURTS?
! 22% believe the Supreme Court cannot declare an act of Congress unconsti-
tutional. 23% does not know. 55% say the U.S. Supreme Court can declare
an act of Congress unconstitutional (2005 survey).
* Kathleen Hall Jamieson is a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania, and Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center; Michael Hennessy is a senior analyst at
the Annenberg Public Policy Center. © 2007, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Michael Hennessy.
899
Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:
1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449
! 35% think that it was the intention of the founding fathers to have each
branch hold a lot of power but the President have the final say; 57% say
the founders intended that the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court
have different but equal powers (2005 survey).
! Less than half of Americans (47%) believe that a 5-4 decision by the
Supreme Court carries the same legal weight as a 9-0 ruling (when the
court divides so closely, roughly one in four Americans (23%) believe the
decision is referred to Congress for resolution; 16% thinks it needs to be
sent back to the lower courts) (2005 survey).
! 53% of the public say that Supreme Court Justices usually give written
reasons for their decisions, while nearly as many (47%) say the Justices do
not usually give written reasons (18%) or they don’t know (29%).
II. TRUST
! Americans consistently rank the Supreme Court as the most trusted branch
of government. 64% of the public say it trusts the Supreme Court a great
deal or a fair amount (a decline from 75% in 2005).
! 75% agree or strongly agree that the Supreme Court can usually be trusted
to make decisions that are right for the country as a whole (2005 survey).
! Trust in state courts is virtually the same (62%).
! Trust increases with education and decreases with age; there is no statisti-
cally significant difference by gender.
III. PERCEPTIONS OF THE JUDICIARY
A. PERCEPTION OF IDEOLOGICAL BIAS
! Roughly six in 10 Americans (62%) say the courts in their state are
legislating from the bench rather than interpreting the law (2005 survey).
! 75% say a judge’s ruling is influenced by his or her politics to a great or
moderate extent. Only 29% say it is very or somewhat appropriate for a
judge’s ruling to be influenced by his or her political views.
B. PERCEPTION OF CLASS BIAS
! 62% of the public say that courts favor the wealthy or those with political
influence (2005).
C. PERCEPTION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY/SELF INTEREST
! 75% of the public say that a judge’s desire to be promoted to a higher
court would affect a judge’s ruling.
! 67% think that fear of not being reappointed or reelected would affect a
judge’s ruling.
! 70% think raising money for their election affects a judge’s rulings to a
moderate or great extent.
900 [Vol. 95:899THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNAL
Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:
1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449
D. PERCEPTIONS THAT CALL JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND PREROGATIVES
INTO QUESTION
! Only 53–58% say the President must follow a Supreme Court ruling.
! Over one-third (38%) of adults think it is okay for the President to ignore a
Supreme Court ruling if the President believes the ruling will prevent him
from protecting the country against terrorist attacks.
! Fifty-eight percent (58%) believes that if the President disagrees with a
Supreme Court ruling, he should follow the Supreme Court’s ruling rather
than do what he thinks is in the country’s best interest. A bare majority
(53%) hold that a President must follow a Supreme Court ruling regard-
less of circumstances and even if he believes that the ruling will prevent
him from protecting the country from terrorist attack.
! Seventy-five percent (75%) of the public disagree or strongly disagree that,
“If the Supreme Court started making a lot of rulings that most Americans
disagreed with, it might be better to do away with the Court altogether.”
21% agree or strongly agree (2005 survey).
! Nearly half (48%) say it is essential or very important to be able to
impeach or remove a judge from office if the judge makes an unpopular
ruling.
! Twenty-eight percent (28%) of the respondents believe that the Supreme
Court “has too much power” and this belief is echoed at the state level as
well, where 23% of the respondents feel the same way about the courts in
their state of residence.
E. EDUCATION
! Education is a predictor of perceptions. Forty percent (40%) of college
graduates regard the Supreme Court’s decisions as fair and objective.
Among those with less education, only 30 percent say the Court’s decisions
are fair and objective (2005 survey).
F. EXPOSURE DOES NOT IMPROVE PERCEPTION
We would expect that actual experience in court would improve perceptions
of the fairness of the judicial process. The opposite seems to be the case.
Americans who have a high level of court experience (43%)—either as a result
of jury service within the past five years or of having a family member in court
in the past five years—are more likely than those with no (32%) or slight
exposure (31%) to say they strongly agree that the courts favor the wealthy or
the connected. At the same time, of those Americans who say they have had a
high level of exposure to the court system—through jury service or a family
member with a matter before the courts in the past five years—41% believe
political views influence a judge’s ruling.
IV. WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER?
Multivariate statistical methods can show how attitudes about how courts
2007] 901SURVEY RESULTS
Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:
1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449
function relate to trust in the judicial system as well as to other outcomes. We
used structural equation modeling to identify the predictors of trust in courts
and to determine how trust relates to (1) supporting a president’s decision to
ignore the Supreme Court and (2) supporting the impeachment of judges if they
make unpopular rulings. Looking at the precursors of trust shows that increases
in respondents’ knowledge decrease their beliefs that judges are motivated by
self-interest, that they favor the more affluent members of society, that courts
have too much power, and that judges are too affected by the political process.
These four types of perceived judicial bias—self-interest, economic bias, power
imbalance, political influence—are central to our analysis because they are all
negatively associated with trust in courts. Trust in the courts is important
because a drop in trust and an increase in the four judicial biases predict the
beliefs that the President can ignore Supreme Court decisions and that judges
should be impeached on the basis of unpopular rulings.
APPENDIX
“Annenberg Supreme Court Survey: Lawyers and the Public, 2005.”
Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the
Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public Policy
Center. The survey polled 1,500 adults aged eighteen years and older and was
conducted between March 16 and April 18, 2005. The margin of error was plus
or minus three percentage points.
“Judicial Independence” September 2006.”
Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the
Annenberg Public Policy Center. The survey polled 1,002 adults eighteen and
over between August 3 and 16, 2006. The margin of error was plus or minus
three percentage points.
902 [Vol. 95:899THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNAL
Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:
1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449


Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results

ScholarlyCommons@Penn

University of PennsylvaniaScholarlyCommonsDepartmental Papers (ASC) Annenberg School for Communication1-1-2007Public Understanding of and Support for theCourts: Survey ResultsKathleen Hall JamiesonUniversity of Pennsylvania, kjamieson@asc.upenn.eduMichael HennessyUniversity of Pennsylvania, mhennessy@asc.upenn.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papersPart of the Communication CommonsThis paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352For more information, please contact libraryrepository@pobox.upenn.edu.Recommended CitationJamieson, K. H., & Hennessy, M. (2007). Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results. The Georgetown LawJournal, 95 (4), 899-902. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey ResultsAbstractUsing data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined public knowledge about the Constitutionand courts: the impact of court exposure and news sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts,perceptions of bias in the courts, and willingness to curb the power or inﬂuence of the courts. The surveyswere conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International forthe Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus orminus three percent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, the reported resultsare drawn from the 2006 survey.DisciplinesCommunication | Social and Behavioral SciencesThis journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/352Public Understanding of and Support for theCourts: Survey ResultsKATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON AND MICHAEL HENNESSY*INTRODUCTIONUsing data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined publicknowledge about the Constitution and courts: the impact of court exposure andnews sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts, perceptions of biasin the courts, and willingness to curb the power or influence of the courts. Thesurveys were conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton SurveyResearch Associates International for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus or minus threepercent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, thereported results are drawn from the 2006 survey.We found that public knowledge about both the Constitution and the courts islow. At the same time, Americans consistently rank the Supreme Court as themost trusted branch of government and hold a similar level of trust in statecourts. But many also believe that the nation’s courts favor the wealthy andpolitically connected, that judges are motivated by political and personal biases,and that they are influenced by campaign fundraising. While public trust in thecourts in the U.S. remains high, public doubts that the courts are actuallyimpartial, public concern about the role of money in the election of state judges,and public ignorance about basic constitutional functions served by the Su-preme Court are worrisome because they contribute to perceptions that courtsare too powerful, a disposition to permit a president to defy the Supreme Courtunder some circumstances, and a willingness to impeach judges for unpopularrulings. What follows are select results from the survey that reflect these publicopinions.I. KNOWLEDGEMany Americans are ignorant of basic civics. When asked if they knew any ofthe three branches of government, two-thirds of Americans said yes; one-thirdcould correctly name all three and one-third could not name any.A. HOW KNOWLEDGEABLE IS THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT THE COURTS?! 22% believe the Supreme Court cannot declare an act of Congress unconsti-tutional. 23% does not know. 55% say the U.S. Supreme Court can declarean act of Congress unconstitutional (2005 survey).* Kathleen Hall Jamieson is a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University ofPennsylvania, and Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center; Michael Hennessy is a senior analyst atthe Annenberg Public Policy Center. © 2007, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Michael Hennessy.899Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449! 35% think that it was the intention of the founding fathers to have eachbranch hold a lot of power but the President have the final say; 57% saythe founders intended that the President, Congress, and the Supreme Courthave different but equal powers (2005 survey).! Less than half of Americans (47%) believe that a 5-4 decision by theSupreme Court carries the same legal weight as a 9-0 ruling (when thecourt divides so closely, roughly one in four Americans (23%) believe thedecision is referred to Congress for resolution; 16% thinks it needs to besent back to the lower courts) (2005 survey).! 53% of the public say that Supreme Court Justices usually give writtenreasons for their decisions, while nearly as many (47%) say the Justices donot usually give written reasons (18%) or they don’t know (29%).II. TRUST! Americans consistently rank the Supreme Court as the most trusted branchof government. 64% of the public say it trusts the Supreme Court a greatdeal or a fair amount (a decline from 75% in 2005).! 75% agree or strongly agree that the Supreme Court can usually be trustedto make decisions that are right for the country as a whole (2005 survey).! Trust in state courts is virtually the same (62%).! Trust increases with education and decreases with age; there is no statisti-cally significant difference by gender.III. PERCEPTIONS OF THE JUDICIARYA. PERCEPTION OF IDEOLOGICAL BIAS! Roughly six in 10 Americans (62%) say the courts in their state arelegislating from the bench rather than interpreting the law (2005 survey).! 75% say a judge’s ruling is influenced by his or her politics to a great ormoderate extent. Only 29% say it is very or somewhat appropriate for ajudge’s ruling to be influenced by his or her political views.B. PERCEPTION OF CLASS BIAS! 62% of the public say that courts favor the wealthy or those with politicalinfluence (2005).C. PERCEPTION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY/SELF INTEREST! 75% of the public say that a judge’s desire to be promoted to a highercourt would affect a judge’s ruling.! 67% think that fear of not being reappointed or reelected would affect ajudge’s ruling.! 70% think raising money for their election affects a judge’s rulings to amoderate or great extent.900 [Vol. 95:899THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNALOrig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449D. PERCEPTIONS THAT CALL JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND PREROGATIVESINTO QUESTION! Only 53–58% say the President must follow a Supreme Court ruling.! Over one-third (38%) of adults think it is okay for the President to ignore aSupreme Court ruling if the President believes the ruling will prevent himfrom protecting the country against terrorist attacks.! Fifty-eight percent (58%) believes that if the President disagrees with aSupreme Court ruling, he should follow the Supreme Court’s ruling ratherthan do what he thinks is in the country’s best interest. A bare majority(53%) hold that a President must follow a Supreme Court ruling regard-less of circumstances and even if he believes that the ruling will preventhim from protecting the country from terrorist attack.! Seventy-five percent (75%) of the public disagree or strongly disagree that,“If the Supreme Court started making a lot of rulings that most Americansdisagreed with, it might be better to do away with the Court altogether.”21% agree or strongly agree (2005 survey).! Nearly half (48%) say it is essential or very important to be able toimpeach or remove a judge from office if the judge makes an unpopularruling.! Twenty-eight percent (28%) of the respondents believe that the SupremeCourt “has too much power” and this belief is echoed at the state level aswell, where 23% of the respondents feel the same way about the courts intheir state of residence.E. EDUCATION! Education is a predictor of perceptions. Forty percent (40%) of collegegraduates regard the Supreme Court’s decisions as fair and objective.Among those with less education, only 30 percent say the Court’s decisionsare fair and objective (2005 survey).F. EXPOSURE DOES NOT IMPROVE PERCEPTIONWe would expect that actual experience in court would improve perceptionsof the fairness of the judicial process. The opposite seems to be the case.Americans who have a high level of court experience (43%)—either as a resultof jury service within the past five years or of having a family member in courtin the past five years—are more likely than those with no (32%) or slightexposure (31%) to say they strongly agree that the courts favor the wealthy orthe connected. At the same time, of those Americans who say they have had ahigh level of exposure to the court system—through jury service or a familymember with a matter before the courts in the past five years—41% believepolitical views influence a judge’s ruling.IV. WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER?Multivariate statistical methods can show how attitudes about how courts2007] 901SURVEY RESULTSOrig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449function relate to trust in the judicial system as well as to other outcomes. Weused structural equation modeling to identify the predictors of trust in courtsand to determine how trust relates to (1) supporting a president’s decision toignore the Supreme Court and (2) supporting the impeachment of judges if theymake unpopular rulings. Looking at the precursors of trust shows that increasesin respondents’ knowledge decrease their beliefs that judges are motivated byself-interest, that they favor the more affluent members of society, that courtshave too much power, and that judges are too affected by the political process.These four types of perceived judicial bias—self-interest, economic bias, powerimbalance, political influence—are central to our analysis because they are allnegatively associated with trust in courts. Trust in the courts is importantbecause a drop in trust and an increase in the four judicial biases predict thebeliefs that the President can ignore Supreme Court decisions and that judgesshould be impeached on the basis of unpopular rulings.APPENDIX“Annenberg Supreme Court Survey: Lawyers and the Public, 2005.”Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for theAnnenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public PolicyCenter. The survey polled 1,500 adults aged eighteen years and older and wasconducted between March 16 and April 18, 2005. The margin of error was plusor minus three percentage points.“Judicial Independence” September 2006.”Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for theAnnenberg Public Policy Center. The survey polled 1,002 adults eighteen andover between August 3 and 16, 2006. The margin of error was plus or minusthree percentage points.902 [Vol. 95:899THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNALOrig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: COMMENTS ARTNO:1st DCT-srs, 2nd mcquinne 6 2449

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Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results

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