Almost two-thirds of Americans disagree with the June Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action that allows public colleges to use race as as factor in their admissions decisions.
According to a Gallup poll conducted over June 29 through July 2, 70 percent of Americans say merit should be the only factor in college admissions. That number has stayed relatively stable over the last 12 years.
Even 50 percent of blacks want college admissions decided solely on merit, without consideration for race. That same number is 61 percent for Hispanics and 76 percent for whites. Nearly two-thirds of whites, blacks and Hispanics each disapproved of the Supreme Court decision.
The Gallup poll asked, “The Supreme Court recently ruled on a case that confirms that colleges can consider the race or ethnicity of students when making decisions on who to admit to the college. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision?” Only 31 percent approved, while 65 percent disapproved.
A majority of Americans said high school grades and scores on standardized tests should be a “major factor” in college admissions. A majority also said gender, race or ethnicity and whether the parent is an alumni of the school should not be factors in admissions.
Gallup’s editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, says there’s a chance the general public might think allowing race as a factor in college admissions would discriminate against minorities.
“But Gallup finds that Americans who say they are most familiar with the college admissions process in the June 29-July 2 survey do not differ substantially from others in their views of the Supreme Court decision, or on whether race and ethnicity should be a factor in the college admissions process,” Newport writes. “Therefore, lack of knowledge about college admissions does not appear to be driving Americans’ rejection of race-sensitive admissions.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
