Craig Burnett and Lydia Brashear Tiede have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Judicature).  Here is the abstract:

Judicial elections are typical “down ballot” elections, rarely capturing the interest of most voters. To help distinguish themselves at the polls, judicial candidates have begun to publish their decision-making philosophies with the apparent hope of informing voters. Using survey data collected during the 2012 elections, we explore how well individuals understand such philosophies.