Large majorities of both whites and blacks support soft affirmative action but oppose quotas

Evidence

Although about three-fourths of white Americans consistently agree that blacks should “work their way up… without any special favors,” so do about half of black Americans. Although 85 percent or more of whites endorse “ability” rather than “preferential treatment” to determine who gets jobs and college slots, so do about three-fifths of blacks. Conversely, fully seven in ten whites (compared with over eight in ten African Americans) favor affirmative action programs “provided there are no rigid quotas.” Solid majorities in both races endorse special job training and educational assistance for women and people of color, extra efforts to identify and recruit qualified minorities, redrawing of voting districts to ensure minority representation, and other “soft” forms of affirmative action (Steeh and Krysan, 1996; see also Gallup Organization, 1995). One quarter of those who voted for California’s referendum banning affirmative action in 1996 would have preferred a “mend it, don’t end it” option (Lempinen, 1996). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1989

Categorization

• CANDY: A fourth of people who voted to BAN affirmative action would have preferred mending it — a nicely compact, counterintuitive polling fact.