Americans See Rule of Law as Key to Democracy, Oppose Abuse of Military and Justice Department
Americans see the rule of law as a fundamental pillar of democracy, and they firmly oppose the misuse of the military and the Justice Department, according to a new survey from States United.
When asked what comes to mind when they think about democracy, the rule of law was among the most common answers for Americans across the political spectrum. Free speech, fair elections, and an equal say for all voters also ranked highly.
The survey also found that Americans overwhelmingly oppose use of the military by the president to stop Americans from protesting. And it found that a strong majority of Americans oppose the president’s using the Justice Department to punish political opponents.
States United partnered with YouGov on a national survey of 1,519 adults between Dec. 12 and 18 to better understand Americans’ views on these and other matters.
The survey asked respondents a series of questions about what comes to mind when they think about democracy. Respondents were given a list of options and could select as many as they wished.
About half of Americans named the rule of law—and they broadly agreed across party lines about the importance of this principle. Roughly half of Republicans and independents, and slightly more than half of Democrats (53%), selected the rule of law.*
Notably, there were only a few concepts that came to mind more than the rule of law: freedom of speech, fair elections, all citizens’ having an equal say in elections, and civil rights. The rule of law rounded out the top five answers.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they disagree that the president should be able to use the U.S. military to stop Americans from protesting. About half of Americans strongly disagree with that possibility.
Opposition to misuse of the military is consistent across party lines: Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents all disagree with it. Just 3% of Americans say they strongly agree the president should be able to use the military to stop protests.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans report that they somewhat or strongly disagree that the president should be able to direct the Justice Department to pursue charges against his political opponents.
Majorities from all partisan backgrounds disagree that the president should be able to do this. Only 11% of Americans say they somewhat or strongly agree.
This survey is based on 1,519 interviews conducted on the internet of U.S. adults. Participants were drawn from YouGov’s online panel and were interviewed between Dec. 12 and 18, 2024. Respondents were selected to be representative of American adults. Responses were additionally weighted to match population characteristics with respect to gender, age, race/ethnicity, education of registered voters, and U.S. Census region based on voter registration lists, the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error for this survey is approximately ± 2.8 percentage points, though it is larger for the analysis of partisan subgroups described above. Therefore, sample estimates should differ from their expected value by less than the margin of error in 95% of all samples. This figure does not reflect non-sampling errors, including potential selection bias in panel participation or measurement error.
* In keeping with best research practices, we classify independent voters who reported “leaning” toward either the Democratic or Republican parties as partisans. Therefore, we define “independents” as those respondents who professed no partisan attachments whatsoever.