Political Trust and Judicial Retention Elections

Retention elections are that part of the merit selection plan designed to hold judges accountable to the public. While more than one scholar has concluded that votes cast in a retention election are often not informed evaluations of the judge's qualifications and/or conduct on the bench, the few existing systematic empirical studies have failed to explain why people vote for or against retention. This study fills part of this void by testing the hypothesis that political trust is a major cue in judicial retention voting. In contrast to most previous work which was either limited to the appellate level or to elections in a single state, the data set consists of 1,864 retention elections held from 1964 through 1984 for major trial court judges. The national trends in political trust in the last two decades are found to be reflected in the trends in the mean vote for retention

Political science · Politics · Voting · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Public Administration

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  Open Access•Larry T Aspin, William K Hall•The Western Political Quarterly•1987

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• Thirty years of judicial retention elections

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• Homegrown Institutional Legitimacy

  Open Access•Damon M Cann, Damon Cann et al.•American Politics Research•2008

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• The confidence gap

  Seymour Martin Lipset•The confidence gap•1983

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• American national election studies data sourcebook 1952–1978

  Open Access•Warren E Miller, Arthur H Miller et al.•Electoral Studies•1982

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• The roll-off effect in judicial retention elections

  Open Access•William K Hall, Larry T Aspin•The Social Science Journal•1987

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• The Politics of the Bench and the Bar

  George F Cole, Richard A Watson et al.•The Western Political Quarterly•1969

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• But Who Should I Vote for County Coroner

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• The Theory of Presidential Association

  Gregory Casey, Gregory P Casey•American Journal of Political…•1975

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• Diffuse Political Support and Antisystem Political Behavior

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• The Impact of Judicial Activism on Public Opinion

  Richard Lehne, John Reynolds•American Journal of Political…•1978

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• A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support

  Open Access•David Easton•British Journal of Political…•1975

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• Public Participation in Trial Court Elections

  Open Access•Philip L Dubois•Law & Policy•1980

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• Studying American Legal Culture

  Open Access•Austin Sarat•Law & Society Review•1977

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• The Supreme Court and Myth

  Open Access•Gregory Casey•Law & Society Review•1974

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• Voters in Contested, Nonpartisan Judicial Elections

  Nicholas P Lovrich, Charles H Sheldon•The Western Political Quarterly•1983

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• Public Opinion and the United States Supreme Court

  Open Access•Walter F Murphy, Joseph Tanenhaus•Law & Society Review•1968

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• The Significance of Voting Cues in State Supreme Court Elections

  Open Access•Philip L Dubois•Law & Society Review•1979

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• The Friends and Neighbors Effect in Judicial Retention Elections

  Open Access•Larry T Aspin, William K Hall•The Western Political Quarterly•1987

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• Political Issues and Trust in Government

  Open Access•Arthur H Miller•American Political Science Review•1974

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