{"id":12183,"date":"2017-04-06T09:30:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T14:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/americans-remain-divided-on-how-the-supreme-court-should-interpret-the-constitution\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:17:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:17:11","slug":"americans-remain-divided-on-how-the-supreme-court-should-interpret-the-constitution","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2017\/04\/06\/americans-remain-divided-on-how-the-supreme-court-should-interpret-the-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans remain divided on how the Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The contentious Senate debate over Judge Neil Gorsuch\u2019s nomination to the Supreme Court has cast a spotlight on deep partisan and ideological divisions in Congress \u2013 and in the public \u2013 over how the high court should interpret the Constitution when making its decisions.<\/p>\n\n

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

About half of the public (46%) says the U.S. Supreme Court should make its rulings based on its understanding of what the Constitution \u201cmeant as it was originally written,\u201d while an identical share says the court should base its rulings on what the Constitution \u201cmeans in current times,\u201d according to a survey conducted in October<\/a>. Public opinion about this issue has changed little in recent years.<\/p>\n\n

Republicans and Democrats continue to have very different views about how the Supreme Court should base its rulings: About three-quarters (74%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say it should base its rulings on its understanding of the Constitution\u2019s original meaning, while about a quarter (23%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the same. This gap is slightly wider than it was in February 2014, when 68% of Republicans and Republican leaners and 27% of Democrats and Democratic leaners said the Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution based on how it was originally written.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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

There are substantial differences in these views by age, race and ethnicity, education, and religious affiliation.<\/p>\n\n

By about two-to-one (63% to 31%), adults younger than 30 say the court should base its rulings on its understanding of the Constitution\u2019s current meaning, rather than what it meant when originally written. Views among those ages 30 to 49 are more divided (44% original meaning, 45% meaning in current times). A 54% majority of those 50 and older say rulings should be based on the court\u2019s understanding of the Constitution\u2019s original meaning.<\/p>\n\n

Blacks (63%) are more likely than whites (41%) to say the court should base its rulings on its understanding of the Constitution\u2019s current meaning. And adults with at least a college degree, particularly those with postgraduate degrees, are more likely than those with less education to express this view.<\/p>\n\n

White evangelical Protestants overwhelmingly think the court should base its rulings on its view of the Constitution\u2019s original meaning (79% say this). By contrast, among the religiously unaffiliated, 64% think the court\u2019s decisions should be based on the Constitution\u2019s current meaning, while 30% say it should base decisions on its understanding of how it was originally written.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The contentious Senate debate over Judge Neil Gorsuch\u2019s nomination to the Supreme Court has cast a spotlight on deep partisan and ideological divisions in Congress \u2013 and in the public \u2013 over how the U.S. Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution when making its decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"bylines":[807],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"class_list":["post-12183","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-samantha-smith","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short 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