As important, the High Court has an opportunity to correct judicial and administrative-state distortions of antidiscrimination law that date back more than a half-century and do much to fuel racial division. University of North Carolina, it will not only strike a blow for constitutional color blindness but also align with public opinion as expressed in polling and at the ballot box. If, as many who follow this issue expect, the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. When it comes to skepticism of affirmative-action policies, the issue isn’t whether today’s college students are “left-wing activists who aren’t in touch with the real world” but rather whether that description better applies to New York Times journalists and other liberal elites. In a 2013 New York Times survey, for example, 53 percent of respondents favored “affirmative action programs for minorities in college admissions and hiring,” but the story immediately added that “other surveys that frame the question in terms of giving minorities ‘preference’ find less support.” Which is to say that the more accurately you describe “affirmative action” as it is practiced, the worse it polls.
It’s true that some polls over the years have shown support for “affirmative action,” but this typically reflects artful wording of the question or not defining the term in any detail. And in 2020, Californians soundly rejected a ballot referendum that would have overturned the 1996 ban. Over the next quarter-century, eight other states adopted similar restrictions. In a 1997 New York Times/CBS News poll that asked how “equally qualified college applicants” should be treated by admissions officials, 69 percent of all respondents and 63 percent of blacks said that “race should not be a factor.” A 2001 Washington Post survey asked: “In order to give minorities more opportunity, do you believe race or ethnicity should be a factor when deciding who is hired, promoted, or admitted to college, or that hiring, promotions, and college admissions should be based strictly on merit and qualifications other than race or ethnicity?” Ninety-two percent of all respondents and 86 percent of blacks said that such decisions “should be based strictly on merit and qualifications other than race/ethnicity.”Ī Pew Research Center poll from 2019 found that 73 percent of respondents, including 78 percent of whites, 65 percent of Hispanics, 62 percent of blacks, and 58 percent of Asians, say that “colleges should not consider race in admissions.” In 1996, voters in California, not only the most populous state but also one of the most racially and ethnically diverse, approved a ballot initiative that barred the use of race in admissions at public universities. In a 1977 Gallup poll, a majority of blacks expressed opposition to special treatment.
In reality, the views expressed by these young adults fairly reflect long-held public attitudes about racial preferences.
“Rarely have we been as surprised by a focus group as when we asked this racially and socioeconomically diverse group of 12 students whether they supported affirmative action in college admissions. “For those Americans who assume that college students today are left-wing activists who aren’t in touch with the real world, our latest focus group will be especially eye-opening,” the article began. The coauthors queried a dozen college students and were flabbergasted by the responses, though they shouldn’t have been. Last year, in anticipation of two Supreme Court cases challenging the use of race as a factor in college admissions, the New York Times ran a story on public opinion of affirmative action.
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