The issues of diversity, equity and inclusive programs are at this point the closestly divided and polarized questions in the United States, revealing a wider partisan and racial gap, according to the latest NBC News poll.
President Donald Trump dismantles the DEI program as an early focus in his administration, with voters splitting into the future of workplace programs, relying on political parties to make a deep difference.
Half of registered voters on the NBC News Voting (49%) say the DEI program needs to be eliminated.
And 48% say workplace DEI programs should continue “to ensure that diverse perspectives reflect our country, create innovative ideas and solutions, encourage unity, and make the workplace fair and inclusive.”
They were asked to share whether they have positive or negative feelings about the DEI program, a slightly higher share of voters (43%) say they have negative feelings, while 39% have positive views and 14% are neutral. (The margin for voting errors is either positive or negative 3.1 percentage points.)
The divisions on Dei are part of a wider cultural division. Another question on the voting states that in another question asking people to choose between two different statements, 51% of voters say, “There is too much political correctness in today’s society, and there is too much pressure on people to limit what they can and say to avoid angering others.” Meanwhile, 45% responded that “there are too many biases in our society today, and people need to respect more of what they are doing in order to avoid angering others.”
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office to end the DEI program at federal agencies. This has encouraged some private companies to roll back programs that focus on increasing workplace diversity. The education department has launched a survey of more than 50 universities as part of a broader push for the DEI programme. The Federal Communications Commission has also begun to begin investigating DEI practices on Comcast. (Comcast owns NBCuniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
“When you see these passionate conversations at the partisan level about DEI, how do they see American society today? Where do they see the problem? And that leads to very different solutions and very different approaches.”
Beneath the overall divisional surface of voters, there is a wide gap, depending on the voters’ affiliation with their party and race. 80% of Republicans believe they are too politically correct, while 77% of Democrats say they are too biased. Independents are split, with 46% saying they have too much political correctness and 43% saying they have too much bias.
The overwhelming share of Republicans (85%) believes the DEI program should be eliminated, but the same Democrats should continue. Regarding that question, more independents with Democrats say 59% say they need to continue with the DEI program, while 39% say they should be eliminated.
Although younger people were also more likely to support the DEI program than older respondents, the issue highlights another example of the wide gender gap among young voters regarding Trump-era politics.
Of women aged 18 to 49, 67% say the DEI program needs to continue, and 31% want to eliminate them. However, among men aged 18 to 49, 40% said they wanted to continue with the DEI program, while 57% said they needed to rule out. Older women support the DEI program more than older men, but the gap between them is not that big.
“The survey also points out that there is more political strength and salience for Republicans than for Democrats,” Cardona Arroyo noted the overwhelmingly negative views of the DEI program from voters that make up Trump’s base, including white men with no college education, self-expressing magazine Ripolikans and self-expressing conservatives.
Bill McInthulhu, a Republican poller for Public Opinion Strategy, said the president’s nearby support from Republicans who strengthened Trump’s early approval numbers had strengthened his actions on other issues, such as immigration, and other issues.
“You can see that his efforts, including Dei, are truly reflected in his core political foundation,” McInturff said.
The survey also shows divisions along racial boundaries, with the majority of white voters saying the DEI programme should be over and there is too much political correctness for society. White women with university degrees are the exception among white voters, with 59% saying they are too biased, and two-thirds saying the DEI program should continue.
The overwhelming share of black voters (80%) is expected to last, with 71% saying they are too biased towards today’s society. The proportion of Latino voters in the survey was too small to analyze the group’s overall view on the issue.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from March 7-11 via an online survey sent via telephone interviews and text messages. The margin of error is either positive or negative 3.1 percentage points.
