Interesting survey findings on jury service and trust in legal actors and institutions

As discussed in this new New York Times piece, a new study conducted in July by the polling firm Ipsos has a lot of interesting new findings not only about Americans generally are viewing various legal actors, but also on the views of those who have served as jurors.  This Ispos press release reports on the basics:

A new survey conducted by Ipsos shows that Americans are generally not familiar with the legal system. Americans who have served on juries are more likely to be familiar with the legal system and trust in the institution and the people who serve in it is higher among those who have served as jurors. The survey shows that one in ten Americans have served on a jury in the last 10 years and about one in three have been summoned for jury service but did not serve. 

This Ipsos pdf has 30 pages of findings that, I suspect, many lawyers and other readers of this blog might find very interesting. Indeed, I would be grateful for any folks inclined to use the comments to flag which particular results — on questions asking about, eg, who may “get special breaks, or get given a harder time” in the justice system” or being interested “in serving on the jury in one of the cases against Donald Trump” — they found especially interesting or surprising.

Unsurprisingly, the New York Times piece about this survey is mostly focus on Trumpian trials and tribulations under the headline “Americans Still Put Their Trust in Juries. Will Trump’s Trials Break That Faith?”.  And this poll was likely done only because we now face the prospect of one or more jury trials of a former President.  Still, I think there are much broader stories and lessons in this survey, and it certainly serves to reinforce my affinity for juries and jury service more generally.