Book contents
- The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump
- The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Going Public and the Supreme Court
- 2 Going Public on Pending Decisions
- 3 Going Public on Decided Cases
- 4 The Tone of Presidential Rhetoric on Supreme Court Decisions
- 5 Presidential Calls to Congress
- 6 Presidential Leadership of News Coverage
- 7 Presidents and Public Opinion
- 8 Going Public on Supreme Court Cases before the Modern Presidency
- 9 Conclusions
- Notes
- References
- Index
7 - Presidents and Public Opinion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 December 2019
- The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump
- The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Going Public and the Supreme Court
- 2 Going Public on Pending Decisions
- 3 Going Public on Decided Cases
- 4 The Tone of Presidential Rhetoric on Supreme Court Decisions
- 5 Presidential Calls to Congress
- 6 Presidential Leadership of News Coverage
- 7 Presidents and Public Opinion
- 8 Going Public on Supreme Court Cases before the Modern Presidency
- 9 Conclusions
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 7 examines the relationship between presidential discussions of Supreme Court decisions and public opinion in two ways. First, we investigate whether presidents can influence the public’s views of the Supreme Court and its decisions through their public remarks. Second, we analyze whether presidents lead or follow public attitudes when they take positions on the Court’s cases. Using an original survey experiment, we find that presidents can shape public support for the Court’s decisions in low-salience issue areas, but they have a hard time molding public opinion in high-salience cases, such as immigration. We further find that presidents tend to take positions on the Court’s decisions that are congruent with public opinion on the issue areas featured in those cases, indicating that presidents are democratically responsive actors.
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- The President and the Supreme CourtGoing Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump, pp. 156 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020