The South Carolina House and Senate have the support necessary to remove the Confederate flag form the capitol grounds, according to a new survey.
The poll of lawmakers by the Post and Courier finds that both chambers have reached the two-thirds majority needed to take the flag down, if all supporters were to cast their votes.
At least 33 state senators and 83 House members say the flag should be removed.
State lawmakers are to return to work July 6 and the issue is expected to be debated immediately.
“I just think that it’s time,” Rep. Mike Forrester, R-Spartanburg, said Monday. “It’s causing too many problems. … I think it needs to be in a place of honor, but probably not on the Statehouse grounds.”
Calls for the removal of the Confederate battle flag were renewed after the July 17 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., which left nine worshippers dead. The suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Storm, had posed in photographs with the flag before the shooting and was reportedly motivated by race.
The flag was placed atop the Statehouse dome in 1962 until mass protests in 2000 prompted its move to a flagpole next to a Confederate monument in front of the Capitol.
