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POLITICS

Only 33% Think Most Judges Follow the Law in Their Rulings

Judges are often criticized for legislating from the bench, and just one-in-three voters now believes most judicial rulings follow the law as written.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters think most judges in their rulings try to make new law they like better. Only 33% believe most judges in their rulings follow the letter of the law. Nearly as many (28%) are not sure which is the case. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 1-2, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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