Support for Constitutional Rights During Crisis: Evidence from the Pandemic.

This article examines whether constitutional considerations influence public support for liberty-restricting government policies during emergencies, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. Survey experiments were conducted in six countries—the United States, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China—with over 11,600 respondents evaluating nine pandemic mitigation policies that potentially infringed on constitutional rights. The findings reveal widespread support for these policies across all countries, with constitutional prompts reducing support only modestly and primarily for the most extreme policies in Israel, which was under lockdown during the survey. Conversely, in China (and to a lesser extent Taiwan), being informed that policies might be unconstitutional increased support, suggesting a possible backlash effect linked to political context. Overall, the study suggests that during crises, constitutional considerations have limited impact on public opinion regarding restrictive policies, though effects vary by country, policy severity, and political environment.