{"id":50901,"date":"2011-06-20T10:50:05","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T15:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2011\/06\/20\/ideological-chasm-over-interpreting-constitution\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:48:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:48:28","slug":"ideological-chasm-over-interpreting-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2011\/06\/20\/ideological-chasm-over-interpreting-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Ideological Chasm Over Interpreting Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Supreme Court\u2019s current term concludes, public opinion is evenly divided about how the justices should interpret the Constitution when determining their rulings. Half of Americans (50%) say the Court\u2019s rulings should be based on its understanding of what the U.S. Constitution means in current times, while about as many (45%) say rulings should be based on its understanding of what the Constitution meant as originally written.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Few issues are as politically or ideologically divisive as how the Constitution should be interpreted. In the Pew Research Center\u2019s political typology survey<\/a>, released May 4, 70% of Republicans said the Supreme Court should base its rulings on its understanding of the Constitution as originally written; 65% of Democrats said the Court should base its rulings on what the Constitution means today.<\/p>\n\n

The differences are even starker when viewed through the political typology, which sorts people based on their values, political beliefs and partisan affiliation.<\/p>\n\n

Constitutional originalism draws overwhelming support from Staunch Conservatives, who are mostly older white males and include the largest percentage of Tea Party supporters (72%) of any group. Fully 88% of Staunch Conservatives say the Supreme Court should base its understanding of the Constitution on how it was originally written. Among other Republican and GOP-leaning groups \u2013 Main Street Republicans, Libertarians and Disaffecteds \u2013 smaller majorities favor an originalist approach.<\/p>\n\n

Solid Liberals \u2013who are mostly\u00a0 highly politically engaged, pro-government seculars \u2013 reject constitutional originalism by nearly the same margin as Staunch Conservatives support it: 81% say the Court should base its rulings on its understanding of what the Constitution means in current times, while just 15% say justices should base their rulings on an understanding of what the Constitution means as it was originally written.<\/p>\n\n

Younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to say the Court should interpret the Constitution based on its meaning in <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

current times (62% of 18-29 year olds say this, compared with just 35% of those age 65 and older). And college graduates are more likely than others to say the interpretation should be based on the Constitution\u2019s modern-day meaning (57% say this, compared with 49% of those with some college experience and 46% of those who have not attended college).<\/p>\n\n

Six-in-ten (60%) African Americans and Hispanics say justices should base their rulings on an understanding of the current meaning of the Constitution, while opinion among whites is more evenly split (50% original meaning, 46% current meaning). And although men are about equally divided on this question (49% say the Court should interpret the Constitution based on its understanding of the original meaning, 46% say its understanding in current times), 54% of women say the Court should base its rulings on its understanding of the document\u2019s meaning today.<\/p>\n\n

About eight-in-ten (79%) of those who agree with the Tea Party movement say the Supreme Court\u2019s rulings should be based on an understanding of the original meaning. Conversely, two-thirds (66%) of those who disagree with the movement say rulings should be based on the Court\u2019s understanding of the Constitution in current times.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Supreme Court\u2019s current term concludes, public opinion is evenly divided about how the justices should interpret the Constitution when determining their rulings. Half of Americans (50%) say the Court\u2019s rulings should be based on its understanding of what the U.S. Constitution means in current times, while about as many (45%) say rulings should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"More from the Political Typology","sub_title":"More from the Political Typology","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-50901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court","formats-report","research-teams-politics"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":489,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2011\/06\/20\/ideological-chasm-over-interpreting-constitution\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Ideological Chasm Over Interpreting Constitution","parent_id":50901},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Ideological Chasm Over Interpreting Constitution","description":"As the Supreme Court\u2019s current term concludes, public opinion is evenly divided about how the justices should interpret the Constitution when determining their rulings. 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