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Poll: Mich. split on affirmative action
Mon Sep 4, 9:22 AM ET
DETROIT - A ballot measure that would scrap many of Michigan's affirmative action programs is running about even in a new poll published Monday, with 41 percent of likely voters saying they would approve it and 43 percent opposed.
Sixteen percent had yet to decide how they would vote on the Nov. 7 ballot proposal, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
Michigan took a prominent role in the national debate over affirmative action in 2003, when the
U.S. Supreme Court upheld general affirmative action admissions policy at the University of Michigan Law School but struck down the university's undergraduate affirmative action formula as too rigid because it awarded points based on race.
One of the plaintiffs in the undergraduate admissions lawsuit was Jennifer Gratz, who now serves as executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
The ballot proposal, if approved, would amend the state Constitution to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment for public employment, education or contracts based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin.
Opponents argue the proposal would eliminate programs designed to help women and minorities. They include local chapters of the ACLU, NAACP,
National Organization for Women, Triangle Foundation,
United Auto Workers and several religious and university groups, among others.
Monday's poll of 803 likely voters was conducted last week for the Detroit Free Press and WDIV-TV by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Last week, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed a lawsuit seeking to have the proposal barred from the ballot because of alleged fraud in the collection of petition signatures. The group By Any Means Necessary, which opposes the initiative, said it will appeal.
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On the Net:
Michigan Civil Rights Initiative: http://www.michigancivilrights.org
One United Michigan: http://www.oneunitedmichigan.org
DETROIT - A ballot measure that would scrap many of Michigan's affirmative action programs is running about even in a new poll published Monday, with 41 percent of likely voters saying they would approve it and 43 percent opposed.
Sixteen percent had yet to decide how they would vote on the Nov. 7 ballot proposal, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
Michigan took a prominent role in the national debate over affirmative action in 2003, when the
U.S. Supreme Court upheld general affirmative action admissions policy at the University of Michigan Law School but struck down the university's undergraduate affirmative action formula as too rigid because it awarded points based on race.
One of the plaintiffs in the undergraduate admissions lawsuit was Jennifer Gratz, who now serves as executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
The ballot proposal, if approved, would amend the state Constitution to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment for public employment, education or contracts based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin.
Opponents argue the proposal would eliminate programs designed to help women and minorities. They include local chapters of the ACLU, NAACP,
National Organization for Women, Triangle Foundation,
United Auto Workers and several religious and university groups, among others.
Monday's poll of 803 likely voters was conducted last week for the Detroit Free Press and WDIV-TV by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Last week, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed a lawsuit seeking to have the proposal barred from the ballot because of alleged fraud in the collection of petition signatures. The group By Any Means Necessary, which opposes the initiative, said it will appeal.
___
On the Net:
Michigan Civil Rights Initiative: http://www.michigancivilrights.org
One United Michigan: http://www.oneunitedmichigan.org
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