Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Political Science

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Knowledge regarding the judicial branch of the federal government, including the Supreme Court, is lacking in comparison to the two other branches. The Supreme Court generally receives better approval ratings than the executive and legislative branches of government. It is this relationship that I examine through a survey that measures knowledge and feelings of all three branches of government to assess if having more knowledge of the judicial branch has an impact on one’s feelings towards it. By measuring the knowledge of my respondents through a questionnaire that asked about information regarding, and functions of the US Supreme Court, I was able to compare that to how the respondents feel about the Supreme Court in terms of both diffuse and specific support. Does one’s knowledge of the Supreme Court influence attitudes toward it? While the literature suggests that those with more knowledge will have higher levels of support for the Supreme Court, the results of this study only supported that higher judicial knowledge has an effect on measures of specific support, but not diffuse support.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Jeffrey Budziak, Dr. Timothy Rich

Disciplines

Legal Studies | Political Science

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