Conventional Wisdom? Analyzing Public Support for a State Constitutional Convention Referendum

• Author: Daniel C. Lewis,Jack D. Collens,Leonard Cutler
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X19858396
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• Subject Matter: General Interests

General Interest

Conventional Wisdom?

Analyzing Public Support

for a State Constitutional

Convention Referendum

Daniel C. Lewis

1

, Jack D. Collens

1

and Leonard Cutler

1

Abstract

Although fourteen American states periodically hold automatic referendums on whether to hold a

state constitutional convention, no state has approved a constitutional convention referendum since

1984. This study explores the puzzle of why voters would oppose an opportunity to broadly reform

state government and the factors that underlie these attitudes. Analyses of two statewide surveys of

registered voters in New York during the 2017 Constitutional Convention Referendum campaign

reveal that campaign framing, elite cues, and instrumental concerns have led voters to take risk-

averse positions in order to minimize potential losses that could result from a constitutional

convention.

Keywords

constitutional convention, referendum, institutional reform, voting behavior

Voters are rarely given the opportunity to sig-

nificantly reform state governments, especially

in the twenty-six states that do not allow direct

initiatives. Institutional reform is reserved for

elected officials that often have a stake in main-

taining the current system and voters in recent

decades have repeatedly voted against referen-

dums to call constitutional conventions. Indeed,

states have held 236 constitutional conventions

since 1776, but nonesince 1992 (Snider 2017a).

Among the fourteenstates that require a referen-

dum on whether t o hold a constitutional con ven-

tion every ten to twenty years, a convention has

not been called since 1984 in Rhode Island

(Dinan 2010), which covers thirty-one failed

referendums in the remaining thirteen states.

Since 2002, referendums held in these states

have averaged just 36 percent support for hold-

ing a constitutional convention (see Online

Supplemental Table S1). So, why have voters

been so hesitant to take advantage of these

opportunitiesfor institutional reform? What fac-

tors shape their attitudes on holding a constitu-

tional convention?

Surprisingly,few studies haveassessed public

attitudes toward American state constitutional

convention referendums. A study of voting pat-

terns across counties in five states during the

1960s highlighted the importance of referendum

1

Department of Political Science & International Relations,

Siena College, Loudonville, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Daniel C. Lewis, Department of Political Science & Inter-

national Relations, Siena College, 515 Loudon Rd., Lou-

donville, NY 12211, USA.

Email: dlewis@siena.edu

State and Local GovernmentReview

2019, Vol. 51(1) 19-33

ªThe Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X19858396

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