While the majority of Americans think the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government should have equal power, nearly 1 in 10 believe one branch should be more powerful than the others, according to the seventh annual American Bar Association Survey of Civic Literacy.
April 29, 2025 Survey of Civic Literacy
Most Americans favor equal branches of government, ABA survey says
Nine in 10 (90%) favored co-equal branches of government as mandated by the U.S. Constitution to maintain checks and balances on each other. However, 9% wanted one branch to have more power — and of those respondents, 60% said the executive branch, which is led by the president, should be more powerful than Congress and the judiciary.
The survey is released each year to mark Law Day, which is observed on May 1. The results are from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 U.S. residents conducted in English and Spanish by live telephone calls March 6-10. Here are some results:
Confidence in government
When it comes to confidence in each branch of government, more than 4 in 10 (41%) responded they had the least confidence in the executive branch, compared to 1 in 5 (20%) who had the most confidence in it. Only 11% had the most confidence in the judicial branch, and 7% had the highest confidence in the legislative branch.
To improve confidence in each branch of government, 35% indicated better government transparency is key. Thirty percent said political bipartisanship, 19% favored more civic education and 13% said fair media and social media coverage.
Democracy and rule of law
More than half of the respondents (54%) said the U.S. should be involved in promoting democracy and the rule of law globally. Of those, 59% favored the country being very involved or involved in those efforts compared to 40% who said the U.S. should be somewhat or not too involved.
When asked what is the most important idea pertaining to the rule of law, 37% said that fundamental human rights are protected, followed by justice accessible to everyone (27%), the legal process is followed (20%) and an independent judiciary (12%).
For the highest court in the land, 90% of respondents said a binding and enforceable code of ethics should be established for the U.S. Supreme Court with more than half (53%) indicating Congress as the one to enforce such a code.
Civic knowledge
As part of the annual survey, respondents also answered 13 multiple-choice questions measuring their knowledge of U.S. democracy, with questions based on the current U.S. Naturalization Test. Forty-five percent knew that “We the People” were the opening words of the U.S. Constitution. But only 39% correctly knew that the U.S. Constitution along with authorized federal statutes and treaties reign as the supreme law of the land.
Respondents were mostly informed about the Supreme Court and functions of the judiciary. More than half (55%) knew John Roberts is the chief justice of the United States. Eighty-one percent knew the Supreme Court acts as the ultimate authority in interpreting the U.S. Constitution, and 45% correctly answered that the judicial branch is tasked with reviewing laws.
Also, nearly three-quarters (72%) knew checks and balances stops one branch of government from being too powerful, and 67% knew that separation of powers means each of the three branches of government can check the powers of the other two branches. More than half (51%) knew the U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members and 85% knew “rule of law” means everyone must follow the law.