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14 December 2005

Attitudes toward Flag Burning

Hillary Clinton recently came out in support of legislation that would outlaw flag burning in some circumstances, but says she still opposes a constitutional amendment. The most recent poll I could find in a quick search was a ABC News/Washington Post poll from 1998, in which 79% of respondents thought that flag burning should be illegal, but only 51% supported a constitutional amendment. Needless to say, how the issue is framed dramatically alters the level of support. I would be interested to see how constant support has been over time. I expect that there would have been even greater support for outlawing flag burning immediately following 9/11, but I wonder if attitudes have changed at all as a result of the situation in Iraq. Alternatively, this may be one of the issues where public opinion is fairly stable, as not a whole lot of information is needed to answer the question.

Posted by Ian Yohai at December 14, 2005 11:49 AM

Comments

A CNN/Gallup question asks people whether they favor a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. The percentage in favor drops from 63% in June 1999 to 55% in June 2005. Unfortunately, this only gives the net effect of both 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.

Posted by: Barry Burden at December 14, 2005 1:11 PM