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.
BarthJayBurnettCraig M.ParryJanine. 2019. Direct democracy, educative effects, and the (mis)measurement of ballot measure awareness. Political Behavior. doi: 10.1007/s11109-019-09529-w.
2.
BlakeWilliam D.AnsonIan G.. 2017. Economic voting and support for constitutional conventions. Paper read at American Political Science Association Meetings, August 31–September 3, San Francisco, CA.
3.
BowlerShaunDonovanTodd. 1998. Demanding choices: Opinion, voting, and direct democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
4.
BowlerShaunDonovanTodd. 2007. Reasoning about institutional change: Winners, losers and support for electoral reforms. British Journal of Political Science37:455–76.
5.
BrownAdam R.PopeJeremy C.. 2018. Measuring and manipulating constitutional evaluations in the states: Legitimacy versus veneration. American Politics Research. doi: 10.1177/1532673X18776626.
6.
ConversePhilip E.1964. The nature of belief systems in mass publics. In Ideology and Discontent, edited by ApterD. E., 206–61. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
7.
DavisEvan A. 2017. A path to ethics reform. Albany Times Union, February 5, D1.
8.
DinanJ.2010. The political dynamics of mandatory state constitutional convention referendums: Lessons from the 2000s regarding obstacles and pathways to their passage. Montana Law Review71:395–32.
9.
DruckmanJames N.McDermottRose. 2008. Emotion and the framing of risky choice. Political Behavior30:297–321.
10.
GaliePeter J.1996. Ordered liberty: A constitutional history of New York. New York: Fordham University Press.
11.
GoodmanJay S.ArseneauRobertCornwellElmer E.JrR. SwansonWayne. 1973. Public responses to state constitutional revision. American Journal of Political Science17:571–96.
JoslynMark R.Haider-MarkelDonald P.2000. Guns in the ballot box: Information, groups, and opinion in ballot initiative campaigns. American Politics Quarterly28:355–78.
14.
KahnemanDanielTverskyAmos. 1984. Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist39:341–50.
15.
KeyV. O.1966. The responsible electorate. Boston, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
16.
KoganVladimir. 2010. The irony of comprehensive state constitutional reform. Rutgers Law Journal41:881–905.
17.
LiebmanBennett. 2017. “What are you going to do about it?” Ethics and corruption issues in the New York State Constitution. New York: Albany Law School Government Law Center.
18.
LupiaArthur. 1992. Busy voters, agenda control, and the power of information. American Political Science Review86:390–403.
19.
LupiaArthur. 1994. Shortcuts versus encyclopedias: Information and voting behavior in California insurance reform elections. The American Political Science Review88:63–76.
20.
MaglebyDavid B.1984. Direct legislation: Voting on ballot propositions in the United States. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
21.
McKelveyRichard D.OrdeshookPeter C.. 1986. Information, electoral equilibria, and the democratic ideal. The Journal of Politics48:909–37.
Siena College Research Institute. 2018. New York State public opinion. Accessed August 8, 2018. https://www.siena.edu/scri.
24.
SmithDaniel A.FridkinDustin. 2008. Delegating direct democracy: Interparty legislative competition and the adoption of the initiative in the American States. American Political Science Review102:333–50.
25.
SmithDaniel A.TolbertCaroline J.KellerAmanda M.. 2010. Electoral and structural losers and support for a national referendum in the U.S. Electoral Studies29:509–20.
26.
SniderJ. H.2017a. Does the world really belong to the living? The decline of the constitutional convention in New York and other US States, 1776–2015. American Political Thought6:256–93.
27.
SniderJ. H.2017b. New York State legislators on the November 7, 2017 referendum. The New York State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse. Accessed August 8, 2018. http://newyork.concon.info/?page_id=1984.
28.
TolbertCaroline J.RedlawskDavid P.BowenDaniel C.. 2009. Reforming presidential nominations: Rotating state primaries or a national primary?PS: Political Science & Politics42:71–79.
29.
TolbertCaroline J.SmithDaniel A.GreenJohn C.. 2009. Strategic voting and legislative redistricting reform: District and statewide representational winners and losers. Political Research Quarterly62:92–109.
ZallerJohn R.1992. The nature and origins of mass opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
32.
ZinkJames R.DawesChristopher T.. 2016. The dead hand of the past? Toward an understanding of constitutional veneration. Political Behavior38:535–60.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
