What do voters of the parties think about the political independence of the judicial system

The way in which Romanians, depending on their political preferences, relate to justice in terms of trust, and how they evaluate its independence from political interference, is undoubtedly influenced by the tense debates of recent times.

The first observation we can make is that the highest levels of distrust in justice are found among the voters of USR and PNL, while the social-democrat electorate and that of AUR seem to be somewhat less critical. Of course, the differences are not large and, in any case, we are talking about a majority that, regardless of political preference, is clearly dissatisfied with justice. However, the differences are worth noting: while 59% of the social-democrat electorate express distrust in justice and 67% of AUR voters, among the liberal electorate, 74% of voters have very little or no trust at all, with the figure reaching as high as 86% among USR supporters.

The same situation is noted regarding the perception of the independence of justice. Again, among the voters of USR and PNL, the highest percentages of respondents believe that justice is politically influenced, with 79% of USR voters and 70% of liberal voters. In contrast, the AUR and PSD electorates seem to be less convinced of political interference in justice, with percentages of 66% and 54%, respectively.

However, the fact that in the area of these two types of electorates, the discourse that denounces political interference in the act of justice seems to have the least traction could be a warning signal for the politicians of both parties, who have tried to address the tensions that have arisen in the justice system recently by denouncing such interference.

In any case, in a context where justice is under scrutiny — between journalistic documentation, protests for independence, and debates on institutional reforms — the perceptions of the electorates clearly show the existence of a massive deficit of trust in justice, a fact that, given that we are in a rule of law, should cause many sleepless nights and provide an impetus for reform.

Methodology: The data for the 7th edition of the BAROMETRUL Informat.ro - INSCOP Research were collected between January 12-15, 2026. Research method: interview via questionnaire. The data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), with a simple stratified sample volume of 1100 people, representative of significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over. The maximum allowable error of the data is ± 3%, at a confidence level of 95%.