Public Opinion on keeping or removing Confederate monuments

Andersonh1

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For a while after this removal trend began, I was keeping track of public opinion on this topic and noting polls. I'm going to pick up that effort again and post whenever a new one appears. I have maintained for some time now that the desire to remove Confederate memorials from public spaces is not driven by the majority, but rather by a small group of activists and left-leaning politicians in various cities. I'll take some time over the next few days to post the polls I had saved here on this thread. I hear a lot of claims about what "the public" thinks on this issue, but it seems clear that a majority in almost every case want these monuments to remain.

So here's the goal for this thread: to maintain a record of polling on this subject, one poll per post. The date the story was published should be included to give an indication of how current the results are.

Poll: Majority of Virginians oppose removal of Confederate monuments

September 26, 2017

https://www.wric.com/news/poll-majority-of-virginians-oppose-removal-of-confederate-monuments/

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A new poll suggests that a majority of Virginia voters oppose removing Confederate monuments.

The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, shows that 52 percent oppose removing statues of Confederate generals and 62 percent oppose the removal of local monuments to Confederate soldiers who served or died during the war.

When asked if they associated these monuments more with American history or with the glorification of racism and resistance to civil rights, 55 percent said history and 37 percent said racism, but 54 percent also support efforts to provide additional interpretation and context to existing Confederate monuments to tell a more inclusive story of their history.Mobile users click here to view the full report from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy
 
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rittmeister

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easy: up to the locals - that's the people living there not some far far away statehouse
 

Andersonh1

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POLL: Most millennials just fine with Confederate monuments

August 18, 2017

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9609

A survey of 1,125 American adults conducted this week by The Marist Poll, in conjunction with National Public Radio and PBS Newshour, found that 60 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 support maintaining Confederate monuments as historical symbols—roughly the same percentage reported among older age groups.

The 30 percent of Millennials who believe such monuments should “be removed because they are offensive to some people” also tracks closely with the 30-44 and 45-59 age groups, and is only somewhat greater than the 23 percent of those over 60 who expressed the same view.​
 

Andersonh1

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Majority of Virginia voters support leaving Confederate monuments alone

June 26, 2018

https://www.nbc12.com/story/3851266...-support-leaving-confederate-monuments-alone/

A new poll shows a majority of Virginia voters want Confederate monuments to remain where they are.

A poll from Quinnipiac University shows 57 percent oppose removing Confederate monuments from government property across the state.

Only 33 percent supported removal with 10 percent undecided

Nonwhite voters favored leaving the monuments alone 48 percent to 42 percent. Among white voters, 63 percent supported the monuments while 27 percent supported removal.​
 

Andersonh1

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VCU poll: Almost half of Virginians want Confederate monuments left in place

January 9, 2018

https://www.wsls.com/news/2018/01/0...ans-want-confederate-monuments-left-in-place/

A plurality of 49 percent of adult state residents favor leaving Confederate statues in place as they are, while 46 percent favor some type of change. But those supporting changes are far from united — 23 percent of those surveyed favor moving the statues to museums, 13 percent favor adding context in the current location such as additional signage, and 10 percent favor removing the statues, according to the Winter 2017-18 Public Policy Poll conducted by the Wilder School’s Office of Public Policy Outreach.

The poll, a random sample of 788 adults in Virginia conducted by landline and cell telephone from Dec. 8-26, has a margin of error of 3.49 percentage points.
 

Andersonh1

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Poll: Confederate statues offensive but most Virginians want to keep them

October 29, 2017

https://wtop.com/virginia/2017/10/v...55.1565856683.1509288500-861209848.1500689159

A majority of Virginians say Confederate monuments should be kept on government property.

Results from a Washington Post-Schar School Virginia Poll, taken between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2, were published Friday and show that 57 percent of registered voters in Virginia support keeping the monuments. Forty-four percent say they strongly support it.

However, a plurality — a 46-41 percent split — of respondents says displaying the monuments is offensive to African Americans.

A majority — 63 percent — says displaying the Confederate monuments honors leaders who should be respected for their role in U.S. history.

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Along racial lines, two-thirds of white respondents said the monuments should be kept on government property while a quarter said they should be moved. However, half of black respondents said they should be removed while nearly a third said they should stay.

A plurality of other nonwhite respondents favored keeping the monuments in place by a 47-38 margin
.​
 

Andersonh1

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UT/TT Poll: Most Texas Voters Say Confederate Memorials Shouldn’t Move

OCT 23, 2017

https://www.kut.org/post/uttt-poll-most-texas-voters-say-confederate-memorials-shouldn-t-move-0

Most Texas voters don’t want to remove Confederate memorials or put them in museums, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Many of those who would leave the monuments in place said they should “remain where they are with historical context provided,” but a greater number would leave the memorials in place unchanged.

The partisan and racial divides within those responses were stark. Only 9 percent of Republicans would remove or relocate Confederate memorials, while 75 percent of Democrats would do so. A majority of Republicans would leave the monuments unchanged; a majority of Democrats would move them to museums. And while 60 percent of black voters would remove or relocate those symbols, 64 percent of white voters and 53 percent of Hispanic voters would leave them in place.

“Very few people want the monuments removed or destroyed,” said Daron Shaw, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the poll.​
 

Andersonh1

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Duval voters want to keep Confederate statues, per poll

October 12, 2017

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/246665-duval-voters-want-keep-confederate-statues-per-poll

As Jacksonville City Council President Anna Borsch considers potentially moving Confederate monuments, a new poll from the University of North Florida suggests little enthusiasm among Duval residents for relocating the relics.

Removal is underwater: 38 percent of registered voters want them gone, while 53 percent of registered voters want the monuments to remain.

Brosche, a Republican running for re-election in 2019, would likely face pushback from GOP voters; 83 percent oppose removal.

Of Democrats, meanwhile, 56 percent want the statues gone.

The racial split on statues is likewise stark: 68 percent of white voters want the statues to stay where they are, while 62 percent of black voters want the statues moved.

The poll was conducted via live dial to 512 registered Duval County voters between Oct. 2 and Oct. 4.​
 

Andersonh1

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The link for this one no longer works, but the poll may be out there somewhere.

April 19, 2016, Louisiana, statewide poll

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0795974b6834316913cef8c06f778c1/poll-louisianans-oppose-removing-confederate-statues

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A majority of people in Louisiana oppose taking down Confederate monuments, a Louisiana State University poll has found.

The survey released Monday examined feelings statewide about New Orleans' plan to remove prominent Confederate statues, including a towering figure of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they opposed removing the Confederate memorials. The poll found 88 percent of whites opposed removal, while 47 percent of blacks also opposed removal.

A different poll, released earlier this month by the University of New Orleans, looked only at New Orleans residents and found about half in favor of removal.

At the urging of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the City Council voted in December to remove the monuments, which are still a source of passion in this Deep South state.

The poll, which had a plus-or-minus 3 percent margin of error, was based on interviews conducted in February with 1,001 people.

The views expressed were not surprising, said Michael Henderson, the research director at LSU's Public Policy Research Lab. He worked on the poll.

"Louisiana is a socially conservative state, a Southern state," he said.

Both polls found tolerance toward Confederate symbols, even among blacks.​
 

Andersonh1

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This one is five years old, mainly about the Confederate flag, and may be out of date, but it's a snapshot of the time immediately after the Charleston shooting in 2015. And it offers some older data on this subject as well.

JULY 14, 2015

https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/public-opinion-confederate-flag-and-civil-war-blog

In 2011, a Pew poll found that just 9% of the country had a positive reaction to seeing the Confederate flag, while 30% had a negative one, and 58% had neither. Among those respondents who considered themselves to be Southerners, 18% had a positive reaction and 19% a negative one. Fourteen percent of Southerners displayed the Confederate flag in their home or office or on their car or clothing.

A CNN/ORC poll conducted after the June 17, 2015 shooting deaths of nine black Americans in Charleston found that national perceptions of the meaning of the Confederate flag had not changed since the question was last asked in 2000. Fifty-seven percent of the country saw the flag as a symbol of Southern pride, including 66% of all whites and 75% of Southern whites. But 72% of blacks saw a symbol of racism. Blacks and whites also disagreed on the actions that should be taken regarding the Confederate flag and other monuments to the Confederacy.

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A 1991 poll of Southerners was the first to ask what the Confederate flag symbolized to the public. The vast majority of whites thought that the flag was a symbol of Southern pride, while a majority of blacks thought it was a symbol of racism. A national poll the following year found that 69% of all Americans also saw a symbol of Southern pride. A 1994 Harris poll asked if Georgia and Mississippi should change their flags to remove the confederate flag. Only 21% of the country thought they should, while 63% thought they should not.

In 2000, South Carolina’s display of the Confederate flag at the Capitol drew a boycott from the NAACP. Legislators removed the flag from atop the Capitol dome, only to place it elsewhere on the Statehouse grounds. In a CBS News poll at the time, 45% of the public thought the Confederate flag should be removed from the South Carolina State Capitol building, while 42% thought it should remain. While the public was nearly evenly divided on what should be done, a strong majority agreed they did not want this issue to become part of the presidential election campaign – 64% in an NBC/WSJ poll said that candidates should not take a position.​
 

Andersonh1

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Poll: Two-thirds of Louisiana voters oppose removing Confederate monuments

  • OCT 12, 2015

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_r...cle_a50eb8e1-6c35-5893-90bc-e056688f0a63.html

Though deeply divided along racial lines, about two-thirds of Louisiana’s voters oppose removing monuments and place names that honor Confederate leaders and soldiers, according to a statewide survey.

The New Orleans City Council is expected to vote soon on removing four monuments that remember leaders who fought a war to keep slavery and a short uprising that sought to overturn an integrated postwar government.

Though it’s chiefly a New Orleans issue, what to do with Confederate iconography has spilled over into state politics.

All four gubernatorial candidates and Gov. Bobby Jindal have weighed in on what’s happening in New Orleans. And the Governor’s Office is being pressured to call a special session of the Legislature to consider the issue.

Ron Faucheux, who conducted the poll for The Advocate and WWL-TV, acknowledges that the size of the survey’s sample in New Orleans was not large enough to determine sentiment there. His Clarus Research Group personally interviewed 800 likely voters across the state by telephone from Sept. 20 through Sept. 23. The margin of error is 3.46 percent.

The poll found that 68 percent of those surveyed across the state opposed removing the Confederate monuments, while 18 percent favored the move.

When you have 68 to 18 lopsided percentages, that’s an indication that there’s serious saliency to an issue,” Faucheux said. “I would point out that twice as many were undecided (about whom to vote for) in the governor’s race than were undecided about this issue.”

Nine percent of those surveyed said they hadn’t made up their minds about how to handle Confederate memorials, and 18 percent said they didn’t know whom they would vote for among the nine candidates running for governor in the Oct. 24 election.

The Advocate/WWL poll showed a somewhat partisan and racial divide on the issue.

While 90 percent of the self-identified Republicans opposed removing the statues, Democrats were more evenly split. More Democrats opposed the move — 42 percent — than favored it — 35 percent.

Along racial lines, 31 percent of the African-Americans surveyed opposed removing the Confederate monuments; 46 percent, less than a majority, favored removal. Eighty-five percent of the white voters opposed, and only 5 percent approved of removing.

Twenty-eight percent of the 800 registered voters surveyed were black.​
 

Andersonh1

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This is the closest poll I've seen to a majority favoring removal, and even here it's only half. This was a local poll of Orleans Parish.

Optimism dims in New Orleans, poll says; 50 percent favor Confederate monuments’ removal

APR 10, 2016

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/article_fb2955a7-e979-5a61-bfe9-07c79f6d703d.html

In the background of the latest approval ratings is Landrieu’s call to remove the monuments of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard and a white supremacist militia known as the White League. Chervenak speculated that controversy may explain much of Landrieu’s sharp loss of support among white voters, down from 78 percent in 2013 to 49 percent this year. About 57 percent of white voters who oppose taking down the statues also said they disapprove of the mayor.

Overall, about 50 percent of voters support removing the monuments, 31 percent oppose it and 19 percent offered no opinion.

This was the second time a survey has presented findings on that question for Orleans Parish, rather than the state as a whole. A previous survey by a UNO doctoral student just after the City Council voted 6-1 in December in favor of taking down the statues found about 34 percent of voters supported removal.

Race, unsurprisingly, plays a large role in where people fall on that question. About 60 percent of black voters, who make up a majority of the city’s population, support removing the monuments, while a nearly equal percentage of white voters oppose efforts to take them down.​
 

Andersonh1

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Poll: Orlando Residents Want To Keep Confederate Memorial At Lake Eola

May 24, 2017

http://www.centralfloridapost.com/2...nt-to-keep-confederate-memorial-at-lake-eola/

A public opinion survey, completed this past weekend, shows 85% of the Orlando voters surveyed want to keep the Lake Eola veterans war memorial right where it is.

Last week, Dyer proposed moving the venerable statue from it’s pedestal on the east shore of Lake Eola, to the Greenwood City Cemetery, where a number of Orlando’s civil war veterans are buried.

Dyer did seek any public input, nor was the item on the city’s agenda, a fudge on Florida’s Sunshine Law.

The Mayor expressed the belief that the statue did honor Orlando’s war veterans, and that he was not of the belief that it was a monument to hate and slavery, as those that want it removed have falsely claimed.

The survey, sponsored by one of Florida’s most powerful Southern Heritage groups, had only two questions for the randomly selected demographically proportional survey. Save Southern Heritage Florida has aggressively opposed similar removals across the state.

When asked, Orlando residents and likely voters opposed moving the statue by an overwhelming 85.9%.

The survey also revealed that 86.3% of voters opposed spending tax dollars on the move, which is estimated to cost tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, if not more.


“We’re particularly pleased with the City of Orlando poll, as the area is arguably one of the most diverse in Florida” said David McCallister, a spokesman for SSHFL.

Demographic data for Orlando shows that by race, only 61.1% of the population is ‘white’, while 26.85% is black, 17.48% is Hispanic.​
 

Andersonh1

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Voters Oppose Removing Confederate Monuments

May 25 & 28, 2017

https://m.rasmussenreports.com/publ.../voters_oppose_removing_confederate_monuments

Four Confederate monuments were removed from New Orleans earlier this month following complaints that they celebrate racism, and now the city of Baltimore has plans to follow suit. But most voters oppose taking away these remnants of the past even if they are unpopular with some.

While proposals have been made to get rid of monuments such as the Jefferson Memorial and the carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia because they honor men who practiced or defended slavery, just 19% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States should erase symbols of its past history that are out of line with current sentiments. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 69% oppose erasing these historical symbols. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)​

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on May 25 & 28, 2017 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.​
 

Andersonh1

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Another 2015 poll, so may be out of date now.

Poll: Ky. voters want to keep Jefferson Davis statue

August 4, 2015

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/08/04/jefferson-davis-statue-ky-capitol/31102113/

Despite a nationwide push to remove Confederate symbols from government property, a large majority of Kentucky voters still want to keep the statue of Jefferson Davis displayed in the state Capitol.

Although Kentucky never joined the Confederacy, Davis, who was a senator from Mississippi in the 1840s and 1850s and president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, was born in what is now Fairview in western Kentucky. An obelisk memorial, the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site, that evokes the District of Columbia's Washington Monument stands above the cornfields there, 351 feet tall vs. 555 feet.

The latest Bluegrass Poll shows that 73% of registered voters favor leaving the statue in the Kentucky Capitol alone while 17% support moving it from the Capitol rotunda and placing it in a museum. Another 10% were not sure, according to results released Monday.

Race appeared to be one of the biggest factors in how respondents approached the issue, with 75% of white voters affirming the statue and 15% calling for removal.

African-American voters were evenly divided with 43% wanting it moved, and 42% saying it should remain.
The other 15% were unsure.​
 

jgoodguy

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Good god, is repetition truth?
Politics will decide, hopefully, black communities will no longer be oppressed by State houses.
 

jgoodguy

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Question: Are old polls determinate?
 

Andersonh1

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Good god, is repetition truth?
Politics will decide, hopefully, black communities will no longer be oppressed by State houses.
It's information. It allows us to make informed judgments. I have said that I believe it's politicians and activists who want these monuments removed, and so far the numbers indicate that I am correct. There is no mass, community, state or national demand to remove these memorials. Quite the reverse. The one exception was that single Orleans parish.
 
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