“Only 44% think the govt has exceeded its constitutional boundaries.... but I wonder how many of those 44% truly understand what the boundaries are?”
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All of the 44% understand the boundaries but none of the rest do. Anyone who understands the constitution has to know that the government is NOT operating within the constitution.
The American constitution was written to be read and understood by anyone with enough education to be a functioning member of society at that time. It is NOT complicated and hard to decipher as so many wish to pretend.
Modern politicians and many judges seem able to find any meaning they desire in the document but cannot perceive what was plainly intended.
I think that's too optimistic. For example, I suspect that not one American in ten understands and embraces the constitutional doctrine of enumerated powers.
My (implied) point was that many of these 44% have some favorite part of the Constitution (e.g. free speech, which was highlighted in the poll) that they think has been transgressed by Congress.
For example, I'll bet we can find a lot of conservatives who rightly think that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds, but they don't understand that this law is an unconstitutional atrocity in many other ways as well.