Is There a Constitutional Right to Own a Home or a Pet?

One American in three says that the Bill of Rights guarantees the right to own your own home, while Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania has found.
one in four thinks that it guarantees “equal pay for equal work,” a national survey by the

Those protections are not in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.

The survey, released for Constitution Day (Thursday, Sept. 17), shows that many Americans are unfamiliar with basic facts about their government:

• Only one in three Americans (31 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, while just as many (32 percent) could not identify even one.
• More than one in four Americans (28 percent) incorrectly thinks a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling is sent back either to Congress for reconsideration or to the lower courts for a decision.
• About one in 10 Americans (12 percent) says the Bill of Rights includes the right to own a pet. It does not.

The survey was conducted Aug. 27-31 among 1,012 adults ages 18 and up. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent, and is one in a series of national surveys by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) that asked Americans about their civic knowledge. To download this survey report click here.

“Past Annenberg research has shown that basic civics knowledge is valuable,” said Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. “The current survey shows that, in the presence of statistical controls, the odds are two times greater that you know the three branches of government if you’ve taken a high school or college civics class than if you haven’t taken any civics courses.”

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, added: “Those who can identify the three branches and key provisions in the Bill of Rights are more likely to support the system embodied in the Constitution. Civic knowledge predicts a willingness, for instance, to retain the Supreme Court whether it issues a desired or unpopular ruling.”

Read more here:
The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania – Is There a Constitutional Right to Own a Home or a Pet?