70%: No to college profiling
Most African-Americans and Hispanics are among a large majority of Americans who believe race, ethnicity and gender should not factor in the college admissions process. In a Poll Position national telephone survey, 70% of those asked said no when asked if ethnicity, race or gender should play a role in college admissions decisions. Only 19% said yes with 12% not having an opinion.
The question stems from the “diversity bake sale” held at the University of California, Berkeley by young Republicans. At the sale, baked items were offered at different prices based on gender, race or nationality. The bake sale was held to protest a state law that would allow colleges to consider race or nationality for new applicants. Males were charged the most for baked goods with price with prices dropping for women, minorities and people from other countries.
Almost every group said no by close to, or by more, than a three-to-one margin. Among African-Americans 69% said no versus 17% saying yes and 14% having no opinion. Hispanics weighed in with 57% saying race, gender or ethnicity should not play a role to 17% saying it should and 29% not having an opinion.
The largest number of no votes came from Republicans, Independents, those in the 18-29 and 45-64 age group. Republicans said no by 80% to 14%, Independents said no by 73% to 15%, 18-29 group said no by a 74% to 24% margin and the 45-64 age group said race, gender and ethnicity should not play a role by 74% to 14% saying yes.
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Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,052 adults nationwide was conducted September 27, 2011 and has a margin of error of ±3%.
The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.
Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation. Here are the crosstabs for this poll: Poll Position crosstabs – college admissions.
You can learn more about our polling methodology here.
