The Constitution

A Roper survey of 1971 asked people to choose from three statements: 
a.  "Our form of government, based on the constitution, has stood the test of time and no fundamental changes need to be made in it."
b.  "The Constitution has served its purpose well, but it has not kept up with the times and should be thoroughly revised to make it fit present day needs."
c.  "Changing times have outmoded our system of government and we might as well accept the fact that sooner or later we will have to have a new form of government."

A similar question was asked in 1939 and twice in 1946.  The second statement was exactly the same; the first said "as near perfect as it can be and no fundamental changes should be made in it."  The third said "the systems of private capitalism and democracy are breaking down and we might as well accept the fact..."  The responses:

                A         B          C
1939      64%    19%      5%
1946      43%     33%   19%
1946      51%     27%      9%

1971      38%     39%     15%


Despite the difference in the questions, it seems pretty safe to say that support for revising the Constitution was higher in 1971 than in the earlier years.  In fact, since both options A and C were put in less extreme terms in 1971, the numbers probably understate the shift towards B.  Unfortunately, the question hasn't been asked since then, but we can look at patterns in 1971. 

                                               A         B           C
Not HS Grad                        30%    32%      21%
High School                         36%    41%      16%
College                                 49%    42%        6%

18-25                                    29%     46%     16%
26-34                                    34%     45%     14%
35-49                                    41%     37%     14%
50-64                                    43%     33%     15%
65+                                       41%     33%     14%

White                                    40%      41%     13%
Black                                    22%      25%      27%

Very Conservative              50%      22%     20%
Moderate Conservative      49%      36%     10%
Middle of the Road             34%      43%     15%
Moderate Liberal                27%       52%     17%
Very  Liberal                       21%       35%     29%


The biggest surprise to me is that more educated people were less likely to support revising or completely changing the constitution.  Usually more educated people are less traditionalist, and that seems to have been particularly true in the 1960s.