Analysis

With the recent efforts to remove Civil War Confederate statues from public parks and locations and the associated mass media coverage of this issue, Americans are heavily divided on this controversial topic.

Gender – More Men (38%) than Women (27%) Want Statue Removal: Overall, men (38%) prefer statue removal at a much higher proportion than women (27%).  Slightly more women (19%) are undecided than men (14%).

State of Current Residence – Former Union vs. Confederate States: The divide between North and South is clear on this issue when looking at the survey results at the U.S. State level.  Respondents living in former Union States (36%) preferred statue removal much higher compared to respondents living in former Confederate States (28%) and non-Civil War participating States (27%).

Education – College Educated American’s Opinions Almost Equally Split: Americans with college degrees are almost equally split on this controversial topic.  40% prefer statue removal with 38% opposing this effort.  Americans with a high school degree or some college/university education are strongly opposed to statue removal (48%).

Annual Household Income – Middle Class Conflicted on Statue Removal: Middle class Americans – those with annual household incomes between $45,000 to $125,000 USD – are almost equally split on this issue.  38% of middle class Americans state a preference for statue removal and 39% are against these efforts.  A much smaller percentage of lower (26%) and higher income (31%) Americans are in favor of statue removal compared to middle income Americans.

Ethnicity – Majority of African-Americans (52%) For Statue Removal: A 52% majority of African-Americans want these statues removed while just 30% of White/Caucasians and 37% of Hispanics-Latinos agree.  22% of African-Americans are not sure.

Age & Generation – 39% of Millennials, Only 26% of Baby Boomers Want Removal: Of all five American generations, Generation Y Millennials – Americans between the ages of 22 to 36 – have the strongest support for statue removal (39%) of any generation.  Just 26% of Baby Boomers and 25% of Silent Generation Americans want these statues removed. Overall, older American generations are more confident in their opinions on this topic compared to younger generations.

Political Affiliation –Majority of Democrats (52%) for Removal, Majority of Republicans (60%) Against Statue Removal: Democrats stand alone as the highest political party affiliation group with a majority of its members that support statue removal (52%).  Small percentages of Republicans (23%) and Independents (21%) share this opinion.

Employment: Majority of Blue Collar Professionals Against Statue Removal: While white collar professionals are almost equally split on this topic, a 48% majority of blue-collar professionals – those working as skilled, semi-skilled & unskilled manual labor, craftsman and farming – are against statue removal.

Methodology: The August 2017 Valient Poll® is based on data from the Valient Poll® monthly online survey conducted monthly by Valient Market Research. A U.S. sample of 1,000 adults were interviewed in an online poll conducted on Friday, August 18, 2017. With a randomized sampling of 1,000 U.S. adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- three (3%) percentage points.

For more information including full analysis & data tables click here