The ABA's annual Survey of Civic Literacy report assesses public knowledge of our nation's laws and principles as well as public opinion of law-related current events. This year's survey assessed public attitudes about the state of democracy and the rule of law.
ABA 2025 Survey of Civic Literacy
While an overwhelming majority of Americans think the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government should have equal power in today’s highly charged political climate, 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.
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 ABA 2025 Survey of Civic Literacy was released April 29 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, 2025. The survey was administered by DAPA Research on behalf of the American Bar Association. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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.
Turning to the topics of democracy and the 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. Nearly 1 in 3 (32%) said other judges should be the enforcer; 9% said it should be the president.
With the rise of attacks on judges across the nation, 45% believe the increase is due to the polarization of the political system, followed by lack of confidence in the judiciary and misinformation (18% each). About 1 in 8 (12%) said increased attacks were due to people disagreeing with judges’ decisions or rulings.
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. Nearly half (48%) incorrectly thought only the Constitution was the supreme law.
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 (although 44% did not). 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. Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) correctly responded that the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives would be next in line to lead the country if the president or vice president could no longer serve.
When asked about citizens’ rights and responsibilities, 57% knew serving on a federal jury is a responsibility only for U.S. citizens and holding a federal elective office is a right reserved only for citizens (61%). Six in 10 correctly said the right to vote is the one right or freedom that is not in the First Amendment of the Constitution (60%).
Note: Totals may not equal exactly 100% due to rounding.