Almost 7 in 10 support ban on race in college admissions, with views differing by race: Poll

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to end the use of race in college admissions, but views on the ruling vary by race, a new survey found.

A recent poll by Gallup found that 68 percent of Americans think the affirmative action decision in higher education is “mostly a good thing.”

Black adults tend to be more split over the ruling, while Asian, Hispanic and white adults view the decision mostly positively.

Fifty-two percent of Black adults believe the ruling to end the use of race and ethnicity in college admission decisions is mostly a good thing, while 48 percent say it’s “mostly a bad thing.”

Approval increases to 63 percent for Asian adults who believe it is a good thing, compared to 38 percent who say the ruling is a bad thing. Among Hispanic adults, 68 percent view the decision positively, and 32 percent view it negatively.

Seventy-two percent of white adults say the decision is mostly a good thing, while 28 percent view the ruling as mostly a bad thing.

The Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard was handed down in June. It severely limited the use of race as a factor in the college admission process and upended decades of programs that U.S. institutions have used to select students.

Even before the decision was announced, Gallup noted that previous polling found consistent support among Americans for merit-based admissions, removing consideration of a student’s racial or ethnic background.

Black adults were also more likely to say the decision would negatively affect higher education institutions across the country and would make it harder for some students to attend a college or university.

However, attitudes about the June decision are split among Black voters by generation. Black adults 40 and older mostly view the decision negatively, while a majority of younger Black voters view the ruling in a positive light.

All respondents regardless of race believe the decision will result in less diverse campuses across the country, Gallup found.

As the first group of students applies to higher education institutions since the ruling, Gallup noted that while the decision receives “fairly wide public support,” there is an underlying uncertainty “experienced by universities and students alike as they prepare for the next school year.”

The survey was conducted among 12,443 adults between Oct. 25 and Nov. 9. It has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.

— Updated at 12:50 p.m.

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