After the rejection of proposals in referendums, scholars claim that the outcome produces a shock creating a high information environment. However, the impact of high-information environments on knowledge has not been tested so far. This paper aims to close this gap by addressing how the vote in the EU constitution referendum of the French and Dutch citizens is impacting the knowledge on the constitution and the EU in general. The referendum is an interesting case, as countries vote separately on the same issue- the constitution – but at different points in time. By relying on the literature on cue-taking in referenda, I argue that election outcomes, especially surprise outcomes can serve as a stimulus to gather information. Using Eurobarometer questions on the knowledge quiz on the European Constitution and the EU, I employ a local RDD design in time, testing if people before and after the referendum are substantively different concerning their knowledge on the constitution and the EU. The analysis shows a significant but small effect on knowledge gain with regard to the Constitution. The findings contribute to our understanding of how people are impacted by election outcomes and how people update their knowledge, especially on complex political bodies like the EU.