Just one in three voters feel the country is doing a “good or excellent” job at ensuring all Americans are treated equally or even have the “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” a new State Policy Network survey finds.
In all, 2,043 voters were quizzed on the issue over a four-day period beginning on June 14, with 15% of respondents saying that the country is failing on the issue and another 19% agreeing that the country is now faring poorly after having achieved much success since its founding.
“It’s not that individuals feel they are being treated unequally – it’s a perception of how all Americans are being treated,” SPN messaging strategist Erin Norman told The Center Square in accounting for how 66% agree the country has made “some” or “significant” progress in this area over time.
“There is a focus in the media on all of the worst, if infrequent, cases and often reporting focuses on the discrimination that will rile people up, rather than the facts,” she added.
While she thinks things can be better, Norman said first, more people need to figure out what it is they want to see from the country.
“We have to know what we are striving for,” she said. “There are a lot of different bars floating around– equality of opportunity, equality of outcome, purposeful inequality to make up for past injustices. To see the overall rating of America’s performance on equality rise, first we need to come to a common agreement on what we want to achieve.”
The poll, conducted in partnership with Morning Consult, had a margin of error of 2%.
