According to an INSCOP survey, only a quarter of Romanians trust the judiciary very much or quite a lot, while 70% declare that they have very little, very little or none at all.
The survey shows that PSD and AUR voters, people between the ages of 18 and 44, those with primary education are the population categories that have a slightly higher level of trust in the Justice than the average population.
They have a higher level of mistrust in the judiciary than the average population, especially USR voters, people over 60, those with higher education and residents of large urban areas.
The data show that 92.3% of the survey participants think it is very important or quite important for Romania to have an independent justice system (73.7% think it is very important, and 18.6% think it is quite important).
Only 3.5% of Romanians think it is important at all or quite unimportant for the country to have an independent justice system (1.3% quite unimportant and 2.2% not at all important), while 4.2% do not know or do not answer the question.
Almost a quarter (23.7%) of those interviewed believe that the justice system in Romania is independent of political influences, and 67.4% believe that it is not. At the same time, 8.6% do not know, and 0.4% do not answer.
80.2% of Romanians believe that the law is applied to a small extent or not at all
Regarding the equal application of the law, Romanians’ confidence has decreased. Only 16.6% believe, in January 2026, that the law is enforced to a great or very great extent for all citizens, compared to almost 20% in April 2025.
Conversely, 80.2% believe that the law is little or not enforced, up from 68.5% in April 2025.
According to the survey, I believe that the law is applied equally to all citizens to a large extent and to a fairly large extent, in somewhat higher proportions than the average population, especially PSD and PNL voters and young people under 30.
They believe that the law is applied equally to all citizens to a small/very small extent or not at all in slightly higher proportions than the average population, especially USR and AUR voters, respectively small urban residents.
The data were collected between January 12 and 15, the research method being interview through the questionnaire. The data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), the volume of the simple, stratified sample being 1,100 people, representative of the significant socio-demographic categories (sex, 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%.
The Informat.ro – INSCOP Research Barometer is a monthly opinion survey, carried out by INSCOP Research at the behest of the Informat.ro news platform in partnership with the Strategic Thinking Group think-tank.
According to the director of INSCOP Research, Remus Ștefureac, the data show a structural break between the normative attachment to the idea of independent justice and the concrete experience of citizens, who perceive the system as vulnerable to external influences and unfair in operation.
“A sociological paradox emerges: precisely the more educated, urban and more connected to public life groups are the most critical, a sign that mistrust does not come from disinterest, but from high expectations and informed assessments.
The negative evolution of perceptions of equal application of the law indicates an accelerated erosion of institutional legitimacy, with the potential to fuel either a sense of revolt or civic cynicism, resignation, and withdrawal from democratic participation.
Overall, Justice is perceived as a necessary ideal rather than a functional reality, which represents a major risk in the medium term for social cohesion and trust in the Romanian state“, emphasized Remus Ștefureac, according to the INSCOP website.
