Data collected from a 1981 Iowa Poll indicates that, when given the option, 44% of Iowans would eliminate at least one of the Ten Commandments. These data come from Iowa Poll #249, a random sample survey of 1021 Iowans from October 1981, which has been restored as part of a larger IPOL project to recover lost data from past Iowa Polls. The question asks specifically, “If you had to eliminate ONE of the Ten Commandments, which one would you choose?” Far and away the most popular response was eliminating none of the Commandments, which garnered 56% support from respondents. While the remaining 44% of respondents would eliminate at least one of the Commandments, there was little agreement on which one. The top three chosen were “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods” with 9%, and “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy” with 9%, and “though shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” with 8%. No other Commandment was selected by more than 4% of respondents.

We found some variation for the Ten Commandments question based on age and party identification. Eliminating none of the Commandments was still the most popular choice for this question, no matter the respondent’s age, but the second most popular choice varied by age group. Older Iowans were more likely to support eliminating “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods”, while younger Iowans were more likely to support eliminating “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”. Likewise, no matter the respondent’s party identification, eliminating none of the Commandments was still the most popular response, but the second most popular response differed based on party identification. Republicans were more likely to support eliminating “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods”, Democrats were more likely to support eliminating “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”, and Independents were more likely to support eliminating “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”.

Iowa Poll #249, conducted by the Des Moines Register, was administered to a random sample of Iowans in October 1981. In addition to the questions about the constitution, the survey asked respondents their opinions on a wide variety of topics, including the Iowa Caucuses, the Iowa gubernatorial race, Iowa history, the Ten Commandments, and what Iowans were least thankful for in 1981. Understanding Iowans’ past opinions on these topics can help us understand how perspectives have changed and what ideas have remained popular. IPOL has also been working with UI Libraries and the Des Moines Register to restore data from dozens of Iowa Polls from the 1960s to early 1980s. More information about the project can be found here. We are working to release a full report on our findings as we analyze additional questions.