NPR Poll: 62% Say Confederate Statues Honoring Leaders Should Remain

A new poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist says 62 percent of those polled said Confederate statues honoring leaders should remain.

Only 27 percent said they should be removed, and 11 percent said they were unsure.

The poll sample included 36 percent Democrats, 26 percent Republicans and 37 Independents.

Asked, “Do you think statues honoring leaders of the Confederacy should remain as a historical symbol,” 62 percent of those polled said yes, including 44 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of Republicans, and 61 percent of Independents.

Asked if they should “be removed because they are offensive to some people,” only slightly more of the Democrats agreed, at 47 percent. Only six percent of Republicans agreed, and 27 percent of Independents.

The poll showed that the issue was divisive among African American respondents — 44 percent believed the statues should remain and 40 percent believed they should be removed.

The poll showed that white and Latino respondents felt similarly — 67 of white and 65 percent of Latino respondents believed the statues should stay; 25 percent of white and 24 percent of Latino respondents believed they should be removed.

The poll comes after violence erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, between those opposing the removal of a statute of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general, and those supporting it.

The majority of those polled agreed that the automobile attack in Charlottesville should be investigated as an act of domestic terrorism, and there was strong universal disagreement with the Klu Klux Klan — more than 90 percent among all political affiliations.

Read the entire poll HERE.