Poll: Plurality of Voters Say Critical Race Theory Will Make Race Relations ‘Worse’

A plurality of voters believe Critical Race Theory (CRT) will make race relations “worse” in the country, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Thursday found.

Critical Race Theory (CRT), which Republican Sens. Rick Scott (FL), Marsha Blackburn (TN), and Mike Braun (IN) have described as a “prejudicial ideological tool” that teaches students “to judge individuals based on sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin,” has emerged as a hot button issue in recent weeks. Just last week, for example, the Florida Board of Education backed Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) call to ban CRT from being taught in classrooms across the state.

“I don’t know about you, but telling my child or any child that they are in a permanent oppressed status in America because they are black is racist, and saying that white people are automatically above me, my children, or any child is racist as well. This is not something that we can stand for in our country,” one mom attending the meeting said, contending CRT is teaching children there is a “hierarchy in society where white male, heterosexual, able-bodied people are deemed the oppressor and anyone else outside of that status is oppressed.”

Per the survey, 43 percent said CRT will make race relations “worse,” 24 percent said “better,” 17 percent said it would “not make much difference,” and 16 percent said they are “not sure.” However, a majority of Republicans said CRT will make it worse, but only 18 percent of Democrats agree. A plurality of Democrats, 43 percent, believe it will make race relations “better.”

Notably, a plurality of black voters, 38 percent, believe it will make race relations “better,” but a plurality of other non-white voters, 45 percent, believe CRT will make race relations worse.

The survey also found that a majority of voters, 73 percent, are paying close attention, at least “somewhat,” to the teaching of CRT in public schools.”

The survey, taken June 14-15, 2021, among 900 likely U.S. voters, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

A Rasmussen survey released earlier this month also found a plurality of U.S. voters believe race relations have gotten “worse” under President Biden.