When the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the Constitution prohibits race-based affirmative action in college admissions, many Democrats in Congress attacked the legitimacy of the Court because of that decision.
“By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the Supreme Court has thrown into question its own legitimacy,” the Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement.
But a new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans — including a solid plurality of black and Hispanic Americans — support the Supreme Court’s ruling against so-called affirmative action.
A YouGov survey conducted for the Economist between July 1 and July 5 asked Americans: “Do you approve or disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action, which ruled that colleges are not allowed to consider an applicant’s race when making decisions on admissions?” Americans support the decision by slightly more than a two-to-one margin: 59 percent approve, while 27 percent disapprove.
The poll also finds that significant pluralities of black and Hispanic Americans support the decision that overturns a policy supposedly intended to help them: 44 percent of black Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s decision, while 36 percent disapprove; and 45 percent of Hispanic Americans approve, while 28 percent disapprove.