Fox News Poll: Half of voters are unfamiliar with critical race theory

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As critical race theory continues to be hotly debated among parents, educators, and politicians across the country, a Fox News Poll finds that half are unfamiliar with the concept.

The survey, released Friday, shows many registered voters are unacquainted with CRT:  49 percent are extremely or very familiar, while 41 percent are not very or not at all familiar — and another 10 percent can’t say or have never heard of it.

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Nonwhite voters (60 percent) are more likely than Whites (45 percent) to say they are familiar with critical race theory, and parents (55 percent) are more likely than nonparents (47 percent).

Meanwhile, when asked which group is more favored in the United States, Whites or minorities, voters increasingly say minorities. Some 36 percent feel that way, up 13 percentage points since August 2017.  However, more (43 percent) think Whites are advantaged, unchanged from four years ago. One in five says neither is favored (15 percent) or is unsure (6 percent).

Increases in the view that minorities are favored over whites in the U.S. come from a broad array of groups: Blacks (+16), Republicans (+16), men (+14), women (+11), Democrats (+10), and Hispanics (+9) are all more likely to think minorities are the preferred group.

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When it comes to teaching CRT to the youth of America, those who say they are familiar with the concept have split views, with 37 percent in favor of teaching it in public schools and 43 percent opposed.

When narrowing it down to just parents who say they are familiar with the concept: 50 percent are for adding it to the curriculum vs. 31 percent against.

Roughly half of White voters familiar with CRT oppose teaching the theory in schools (48 percent), while nearly half of nonwhite voters support it (49 percent support).

Among voters overall, just a quarter are in favor (25 percent) while a third oppose (33 percent) teaching CRT to U.S. students.  Still, the biggest share, 40 percent, haven’t heard enough to provide an opinion. 

In addition, when voters overall are asked how well they think critical race theory describes the way American society works, roughly a quarter says it describes it well (27 percent), while another 41 percent disagrees.

That gap narrows when only looking at the subgroup of those familiar with CRT: 42 percent says it describes American society well and 47 percent not well.

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“Americans are pretty honest, and half tell us they do not know much about ‘critical race theory’ or the attendant arguments in the news recently,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw who conducts the poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “This suggests the pitched battle among elected officials, public intellectuals, educators, and the mainstream press to define critical race theory to their advantage is an important one. Whoever controls the conversation has a leg up on influencing public opinion.”

Compared to CRT, registered voters are about equally familiar with the idea of political polarization (49 percent familiar vs. 40 percent unfamiliar) — but much better acquainted with inflation (71-26 percent) and social justice (69-29).

Conducted June 19-22, 2021 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,001 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones.  The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. 

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