Monday, September 18, 2017

"Public ignorance about the Constitution"

Via Instapundit: A closer look at the First Amendment question reveals that 48% recalled that the Amendment protects the right to freedom of speech. The other rights protected by the Amendment (freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to petition the government, and freedom of assembly) are far less well-known. For example, only 15% remembered the right to freedom of religion.

These survey results do not come as a surprise to experts on political knowledge. They are largely consistent with previous data going back several decades, showing widespread ignorance on a wide range of legal and political matters, including the Constitution. As Cilliza points out, the Annenberg results paint an even bleaker picture than earlier polls. For example, surveys typically find that some 35-40% of Americans can name the three branches of government. The Annenberg figure of 26% is unusually low. But even if it is an aberration, the results from previous surveys are nothing to write home about.

The protection of constitutional rights is in large part the business of lawyers, judges, government officials, and other experts. But public opinion plays an important role, as well, which it is unlikely to do as effectively if most of the public is ignorant. As Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Center, puts it, “[p]rotecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution presupposes that we know what they are. The fact that many don’t is worrisome.”

Voter-knowledge optimists might point out that the Annenberg survey understates the true level of public knowledge, because it relies on open-ended questions, where the respondent has to recall the answer on his or her own, without any clues beyond those given by the question itself. Some studies find that the public does better on multiple choice surveys. The latter can help jog your memory. But, as I explain more fully in my book on political ignorance, most of the public scores poorly on political knowledge even in multiple choice surveys. And, if open-ended questions understate knowledge, multiple choice questions tend to overestimate it, because many respondents get the “right” answer by guessing, without actually knowing.

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1 comment:

edutcher said...

It's freedom from an Establishment of Religion (very specific thing dealing with specific types of laws*, think Saudi Arabia) and freedom from a restriction of practice (again, think Saudi Arabia). Not banning religion from public life. Quite the opposite.

*For those "Outlander" fans (and you know who you are), the '45 rising was within living memory of the people writing the Constitution and it was what Catholic Scotland was fighting against.

The eminent Mr Surber has some pithy observations on Patrick Henry and Henry's opinion of where the Rights should have gone.