Evaluating State Constitutions

Abstract

AbstractAmericans know little about the US Constitution, but they know even less about their state constitutions. Around half are uncertain that their state constitution even exists. Despite this ignorance, Americans readily express veneration for the US Constitution, but they appear to value it more for its link to a vaunted past than for its unfamiliar substance. State constitutions benefit from no such founding mythos, so Americans evaluate them differently. Survey experiments reveal that Americans take a Jeffersonian view of state constitutions, offering more favorable evaluations of their state constitution when informed of its frequent amendment rate or recent replacement. Though Americans hesitate to amend the US Constitution, though show no such reticence about amending state constitutions.