(12/07/11) -

Americans Offer Conditional Support for Affirmative Action

Most respondents are in favor of policies that help people with disabilities, women and African Americans, but not Hispanics or recent immigrants.

Most Americans voice support for “Affirmative Action” policies in the workplace and universities for three specific groups, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

The online survey of a representative national sample of 2,002 American adults sought to review whether Americans are in favor of taking factors such as gender, race or national origin into account before hiring employees or allowing admission into college or university.

The Workplace

Across the country, at least two thirds of respondents support “Affirmative Action” to ensure that more people with disabilities (71%) and women (67%) are hired.

Half of Americans (51%) also support policies to ensure that more African Americans are hired.

However, just two-in-five respondents across the United States (40%) support “Affirmative Action” to ensure that more Hispanics are hired, and about three-in-ten (28%) would extend the policy to help recent immigrants.

Colleges and Universities

When it comes to admission into colleges and universities, most Americans support “Affirmative Action” to benefit people with disabilities (69%), women (62%) and African Americans (53%). Once again, the level of support for implementing similar policies to help Hispanics (43%) and recent immigrants (33%) is decidedly lower.

Analysis

People with disabilities and women are definitely seen as two groups that should be benefitted by “Affirmative Action”, followed closely by African Americans. Hispanics and recent immigrants are not regarded in the same light, particularly by white respondents. African Americans and Hispanics tend to agree on the need for both groups to get special assistance.

It is important to note that men are definitely less likely than women to voice support for “Affirmative Action” in most categories, although both genders equally oppose extending the policy to help recent immigrants.

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

CONTACT:

Mario Canseco, Vice President, Angus Reid Public Opinion
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com

Methodology: From October 4 to October 6, 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 2,005 randomly selected American adults who are Springboard America panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.