.jpg)
The debate surrounding affirmative action is back in the spotlight.
Brought on in part on by a narrow 5-4 decision yesterday the Supreme Court found that white firefighters were unfairly denied promotion by the city of New Haven Connecticut. Voting down ideological lines the decision overturned the scrapping of successful test scores from seventeen white and two Hispanic firefighters likely to have been promoted based on their results.
With Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s recent comments about her being a “perfect affirmative action baby” a whole new round of discussion on the issue begins. Sotomayor represents a perfect case study on the topic of affirmative action – a high profile lightning rod of attention.
On one hand the Judge’s bluntness regarding her “highly questionable” acceptance to an Ivy League school, suggesting that her test scores were “not comparable to that of my colleagues at Princeton and Yale.” On the other hand her meteoric rise from humble beginnings in the Latino community to the brink of a Senate confirmation as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice could help strengthen the argument for such minority advancement programs.
Further stirring the debate pot is Sotomayor’s support for the dismissal of aforementioned tests where not a single African-American firefighter excelled to the level of promotional consideration. This as 2nd Circuit Court Judge in the Ricci vs. DeStefano case regarding employment discrimination that has been argued by a wide range of voices and is the subject of some controversy.
Fresh in the minds of voters again the debate roars on. By the numbers however it’s difficult to tell exactly where Americans stand on the issue. Polling often renders ambiguous results but the striking divide between the data obtained from certain reputable pollsters brings the following into question; How much are voters opinion shaped by the structure of a poll question, and how likely are results bound to differ depending on who is asking?
According to a CBS / New York Times poll released earlier this month, by a margin of 50-41% responders said they favor programs that make a “special effort” to help minorities get ahead. While around 60% of Republicans oppose such programs, it has the support of two-thirds of Democrats and a nearly even split of independents.
Elaborating on the question however swings, or as some might suggest pushes, the topic to an even higher favorable. NBC / Wall Street Journal asked which statement comes closer to “your” point of view as the poll asked responders the following; “Affirmative action programs are still needed to counteract the effects of discrimination against minorities, and are a good idea as long as there are no rigid quotas.” Or statement (B); “Affirmative action programs have gone too far in favoring minorities, and should be ended because they unfairly discriminate against whites.”
The general tone of a question often has a great deal of impact on the result gathered. A noticeably higher, 63% of responders chose to align with the first statement as opposed to just 28% who considered the second as being closer to their point of view. Digging deeper however the gap between those who feel strongly about their position on the issue shows affirmative action favorability winning over a more modest 37-20% gap. A whopping 43% said the issue was not of major interest or concern to them suggesting a vast middle ground where their opinions could be swayed.
Last month an AP-GFK poll found a seven-point gap between the results of a question asking the support of or opposition to affirmative action programs. For racial and ethnic minorities there was a 56-36% favorability gap, but in regards to women the numbers widened to 63-29%. These numbers for women are virtually identical to the overall numbers shown by NBC / Wall Street Journal who did not ask a similar question in their poll.
Throwing a wrench into the works are the latest results from a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month. Widely disagreeing with Judge Sotomayor’s ruling in the New Haven firefighters case Quinnipiac also finds that by a 55-36% margin American voters actually favor the abolishing of affirmative action.
How in the world do we get such divergent numbers here?
Certainly the good people at Quinnipiac have shown themselves to be dependable pollsters in the past and with a large sample of nearly 3,100 registered voters it would seem difficult to pass off the results as incredulous or an outlier. The party identification balance is similar to that of other well regarded publications like Rasmussen. Furthermore the question itself does not emit the stench of classic “push poll” tendencies. Take a look at the wording, it doesn’t seem at odds with the NBC / Journal poll that never the less scores far higher favorability ratings; "Do you think affirmative action programs that give preferences to blacks and other minorities in hiring, promotions and college admissions should be continued, or do you think these affirmative action programs should be abolished?"
Even assistance director Peter Brown does not seem in any way miffed by the results that stand in such contrast with the data captured by other polls.
Brought on in part on by a narrow 5-4 decision yesterday the Supreme Court found that white firefighters were unfairly denied promotion by the city of New Haven Connecticut. Voting down ideological lines the decision overturned the scrapping of successful test scores from seventeen white and two Hispanic firefighters likely to have been promoted based on their results.
With Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s recent comments about her being a “perfect affirmative action baby” a whole new round of discussion on the issue begins. Sotomayor represents a perfect case study on the topic of affirmative action – a high profile lightning rod of attention.
On one hand the Judge’s bluntness regarding her “highly questionable” acceptance to an Ivy League school, suggesting that her test scores were “not comparable to that of my colleagues at Princeton and Yale.” On the other hand her meteoric rise from humble beginnings in the Latino community to the brink of a Senate confirmation as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice could help strengthen the argument for such minority advancement programs.
Further stirring the debate pot is Sotomayor’s support for the dismissal of aforementioned tests where not a single African-American firefighter excelled to the level of promotional consideration. This as 2nd Circuit Court Judge in the Ricci vs. DeStefano case regarding employment discrimination that has been argued by a wide range of voices and is the subject of some controversy.
Fresh in the minds of voters again the debate roars on. By the numbers however it’s difficult to tell exactly where Americans stand on the issue. Polling often renders ambiguous results but the striking divide between the data obtained from certain reputable pollsters brings the following into question; How much are voters opinion shaped by the structure of a poll question, and how likely are results bound to differ depending on who is asking?
According to a CBS / New York Times poll released earlier this month, by a margin of 50-41% responders said they favor programs that make a “special effort” to help minorities get ahead. While around 60% of Republicans oppose such programs, it has the support of two-thirds of Democrats and a nearly even split of independents.
Elaborating on the question however swings, or as some might suggest pushes, the topic to an even higher favorable. NBC / Wall Street Journal asked which statement comes closer to “your” point of view as the poll asked responders the following; “Affirmative action programs are still needed to counteract the effects of discrimination against minorities, and are a good idea as long as there are no rigid quotas.” Or statement (B); “Affirmative action programs have gone too far in favoring minorities, and should be ended because they unfairly discriminate against whites.”
The general tone of a question often has a great deal of impact on the result gathered. A noticeably higher, 63% of responders chose to align with the first statement as opposed to just 28% who considered the second as being closer to their point of view. Digging deeper however the gap between those who feel strongly about their position on the issue shows affirmative action favorability winning over a more modest 37-20% gap. A whopping 43% said the issue was not of major interest or concern to them suggesting a vast middle ground where their opinions could be swayed.
Last month an AP-GFK poll found a seven-point gap between the results of a question asking the support of or opposition to affirmative action programs. For racial and ethnic minorities there was a 56-36% favorability gap, but in regards to women the numbers widened to 63-29%. These numbers for women are virtually identical to the overall numbers shown by NBC / Wall Street Journal who did not ask a similar question in their poll.
Throwing a wrench into the works are the latest results from a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month. Widely disagreeing with Judge Sotomayor’s ruling in the New Haven firefighters case Quinnipiac also finds that by a 55-36% margin American voters actually favor the abolishing of affirmative action.
How in the world do we get such divergent numbers here?
Certainly the good people at Quinnipiac have shown themselves to be dependable pollsters in the past and with a large sample of nearly 3,100 registered voters it would seem difficult to pass off the results as incredulous or an outlier. The party identification balance is similar to that of other well regarded publications like Rasmussen. Furthermore the question itself does not emit the stench of classic “push poll” tendencies. Take a look at the wording, it doesn’t seem at odds with the NBC / Journal poll that never the less scores far higher favorability ratings; "Do you think affirmative action programs that give preferences to blacks and other minorities in hiring, promotions and college admissions should be continued, or do you think these affirmative action programs should be abolished?"
Even assistance director Peter Brown does not seem in any way miffed by the results that stand in such contrast with the data captured by other polls.
Whether it's a belief that the statute of limitations on past wrongs has run out
or economic pressures on workers, programs that supporters call affirmative
action and opponents label racial preferences are unpopular with most American
voters. -- Peter Brown / Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Digging deeper however we find some contradictory results within the data of the poll. Question fourteen asks the following; Which comes closer to your point of view regarding affirmative action programs in the work place - A) We should have affirmative action programs to overcome past discrimination, B) We should have affirmative action programs to increase diversity or C) We should not have affirmative action programs?”
In this instance Quinnipiac’s results are far more balanced. 20% sided with answer “A” to the question above, whereas an additional 27% agreed with choice “B” and only 47% agreed that we should not have affirmative action programs at all. This means that overall there was a perfectly even 47-47% balance of those favoring some sort of affirmative action function in the work place to those opposed to either or any implementation. Now we move a bit closer to the top-line results of other polls that show high favorability ratings for affirmative action programs.
Americans have shown sensitivity to issues of minority advancement but where they stand in their beliefs is highly influenced by the wording and tone of the question they are asked. It’s difficult to tell exactly what voters’ think about affirmative action based on the data of certain polls that stand in such stark contrast with one another. Never the less polling will continue to play a factor in shaping the discussion on the issue, and with it back in the headlines as a major topic the debate rolls on.
No comments:
Post a Comment