Public opinion has been shown to influence judges’ decisions. one study found that supreme court decisions matched up well with public opinion polls % of the time.

apart from being against desegregation, governor of georgia eugene talmadge opposed as well to the work progress administration, an ambitious program of the "new deal" created by president franklin d. roosevelt to overcome the great depression after world war i. talmadge disagreed with welfare spending, job training and organized labor. according to his ideas, he thought the government was spending too much money on this, and he wasn't willing to accept a wage higher than georgia's lower average wage. besides, talmadge strongly opposed to the "new deal" as he thought it had communist ideas.