The old legal maxim that “no one is above the law” isn’t resonating for a sizable share of Florida voters.
New polling shows that 34% of Florida voters believe that both Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature shouldn’t have to follow state court decisions they disagree with.
That includes 48% of voters who say they sided with President Donald Trump last year, but just 17% of Kamala Harris voters.
Hispanic and Latino voters account for an overshare of the sentiment, with 46% agreeing that the Governor and Legislature should be able to ignore a Florida Judge’s ruling, compared to 32% of White voters, 24% of Black voters and 42% of voters who said they had “other” racial or ethnic heritage.
Part of the problem can be attributed to a lack of faith in the court system. Just 58% of voters in the Sunshine State believe the Florida Supreme Court makes decisions based on the law and the Constitution, not politics.
Roughly the same share believe the court treats people fairly regardless of demographics.
But it’s oddly flipped around, politically. Eighty percent of Trump voters believe the Florida Supreme Court follows the law to the letter, compared to 33% of Harris voters.
While Hispanic/Latino voters and White voters have a positive view of the highest state court’s judicial impartiality — 51% and 64%, respectively — the court is underwater with Black and “other” voters. About 58% of Black voters believe the court is at least somewhat politically tainted and lacks racially impartial, and 38% of “other” voters feel the same way.
North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling[1] surveyed 514 Florida voters Aug. 18-19 on behalf of the National Council of Jewish Women’s[2] Courts Matter Coalition[3].
The poll had a 4.3-percentage-point margin of error.
It found that 95% of Florida voters believe it’s at least somewhat important that people be treated fairly and equally in the criminal justice system, regardless of race or socioeconomic status.
That was the same percentage found in a 2015 poll the Courts Matter Coalition ran.
Notably, that 2015 survey was split evenly between Democratic and GOP respondents. The new one included a +10 share of Republicans.
Judicial independence remains a generally positive concept, with 78% of voters agreeing last month that state Judges should be able to decide cases without worrying about elected officials removing them from the bench.
That included 96% of Harris voters, but just 78% of Trump voters. Eighty-eight percent of Black respondents agreed, compared to 87% of Hispanics and Latinos, 74% of Whites and 94% of “other” voters.
Having a bench reflective of the people is also still a popular idea, albeit less so now than when Barack Obama was in the White House.
Seventy-three percent of Florida voters believe it’s at least somewhat important that Judges reflect diversity in the state, down 5 points from 2015. But the decline came with an uptick in intensity, pollsters found, with 57% of voters counting representative diversity in the judiciary as very important.
Just 58% of Trump voters said heterogeneity among Judges is important — not shocking, considering the President’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs[4].
Also unsurprising: 93% of Harris voters find judicial diversity important.
So do 95% of Hispanic and Latino voters, 90% of “other” voters, 80% of Black voters and 67% of White voters.
The most recent report[5] from the American Constitution Society found that Florida ranked 35th among all U.S. states in race and ethnicity representation on the bench. However, that report was published in 2018 and used some data from more than 15 years ago.
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References
- ^ Public Policy Polling (www.publicpolicypolling.com)
- ^ National Council of Jewish Women’s (www.google.com)
- ^ Courts Matter Coalition (courtsmatter.org)
- ^ opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs (www.whitehouse.gov)
- ^ report (www.acslaw.org)