Most NC residents support Confederate statues and monuments on public land, poll finds
Most North Carolina residents say Confederate statues and monuments should remain in place, according to a statewide survey released Wednesday morning.
The Elon University Poll found that 65% of respondents think Confederate monuments should remain on public, government-owned property, while 35% think they should be removed.
A quarter of those surveyed said removing monuments helps race relations in the state, 36% said it hurts race relations and 40% said the removal doesn’t make a difference.
The results of the online survey, which included 1,467 people, comes on the heels of the removal of a Confederate statue in downtown Pittsboro early Wednesday. After months of protests and a judge’s approval, Chatham County crews carefully took down the bronze statue that stood outside the historic courthouse for 112 years.
The scene was quite different than the last local Confederate statue removal. In August 2018, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Silent Sam was taken down by protesters rather than cranes. After legal debates and several heated protests at UNC, university officials refused to remove the statue so protesters stepped in.
Poll Director Jason Husser said the big takeaway from this survey is that as they’ve tracked this topic over time and asked the question slightly differently, the results have consistently showed majority support for monuments not being taken down.
But while most North Carolinian residents think the monuments shouldn’t be torn down, they are open to alternatives.
A majority of participants said that adding plaques to provide historical context (73%) and moving the monuments to history museums (65%) or Confederate cemeteries or memorials (55%) are good ideas. Some also suggested that replacing Confederate monuments with monuments that honor Southerners who fought to end slavery was a good idea (37%).
The city of Winston-Salem paid to remove a Confederate statue from downtown in March, and it was moved to the private Salem Cemetery, The News & Observer previously reported.
The statue that stood in Pittsboro and its pedestal will be “transported to a safe location where they will be preserved and stored until such time as the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) finds a more appropriate location to place them,” Chatham County officials said.
Who supports Confederate monuments and why?
The results of the survey can help provide a nuanced understanding of supporters.
Husser said there’s a stereotypical image of supporters that they’re all pro-Confederate flag and support all that the Confederacy stands for, including slavery.
“What we found was that yes, those types of people exist,” Husser said, “but there are also a lot of people who see it as helping people understand history and honoring people who died.”
Most people (76%) said they “strongly or somewhat agree” that Confederate monuments help people understand an important chapter in American history. And 76% “strongly or somewhat agree” that they honor Confederate soldiers who passed away in the Civil War. Less than half of respondents said the statues glorify what the Confederacy fought for.
There was a lot of variation in answers based on how people viewed the cause of the Civil War. More people thought it was mainly about states’ rights (49%) than slavery (44%).
Husser said the poll also shows that this is not an issue that clearly cuts along partisan or racial lines.
Black residents were more likely to oppose Confederate monuments and the Confederate flag. The survey shows 73% said Confederate monuments should be removed from public property and they have a negative reaction to the Confederate flag.
That means more than a quarter of black residents in North Carolina support the standing Confederate monuments and aren’t offended by the Confederate flag.
From a political standpoint, 64% of Democrats said monuments on public property should be removed, while 91% of Republicans want them to stay put.
The online survey is a representative sample of NC residents that was sent to individuals based on their demographics, including race, gender, income and education. It’s not a survey that people can take because they’re motivated on the issue and participants don’t even know it’s about monuments until they get into the survey. The results were collected Nov. 4-6.
The nearly 1,500 person sample might seem small to some, but Husser said it’s actually a larger pool than normal. Part of the reason is because they wanted to better represent African-Americans in the survey. Just over 70% of participants identified as white only and 22% identified as black only. Husser said if they asked every resident in the state the results would be within 3 percentage points of these findings.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Most NC residents support Confederate statues and monuments on public land, poll finds."
