Mullinix, KevinHansen, Grant2025-02-102025-02-102023-05-312023http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:19011https://hdl.handle.net/1808/35894What impacts people’s attitudes toward the Supreme Court? In recent years, concerns have emerged about the politicization of the Court. High-profile cases, such as Bush v. Gore (2000), and more recently, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), highlight the ideological division of the Court. Prior research has considered a wide range of variables believed to shape people’s attitudes toward the Court. Among these variables include such elements as the effect of court knowledge and perceived judicial politicization. Evidence suggests that high levels of knowledge about the Court are associated with more positive assessments of the institution. Comparatively, high levels of perceived politicization result in strongly negative attitudes toward the Court.In examining this phenomenon, I argue that the independent effect associated with high levels of court knowledge will result in high levels of court approval and perceived legitimacy. Conversely, the independent effect of high levels of perceived politicization will have a negative effect on both court approval and perceived legitimacy. In addition, I account for the interaction effect of court knowledge on approval and legitimacy at different levels of perceived politicization. My findings support existing research when accounting for the independent effect of court knowledge and perceived politicization. However, in examining the interaction between these two variables, I find that the effect of court knowledge on approval is negative at the highest level of perceived politicization; but, is positive when measuring the effect of court knowledge on legitimacy at the highest level of perceived politicization. These findings, nonetheless, offer a novel contribution in the literature on attitudes toward the Supreme Court.35 pagesenCopyright held by the author.Political scienceAmerican studiesCourt ApprovalCourt KnowledgeJudicial PoliticizationLegitimacyThesis