Critical Race Tuesday (CRT) has been at the forefront of politics since the Virginia gubernatorial election and is likely to be a major issue in the 2022 midterm elections. Encyclopedia Britannica defines CRT as a framework based on the premise that race is "a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. Critical race theorists hold that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans." A poll released on Wednesday shows what percentage of Republicans and Democrats support teaching CRT and similar curriculum in schools.
In the Monmouth University poll, more than three-fourths of Republicans, 78 percent, said that they disapproved of teaching CRT in schools. Sixteen percent of Republicans approved. Three-fourths of Democrats, 75 percent, said they approve of teaching CRT, with 15 percent of Democrats saying they disapprove.
In a separate question, respondents were asked how they felt about teaching the "history of racism" in schools. In the findings, 43 percent of Republicans polled said they oppose schools teaching about the history of racism, while 5 percent of Democrats felt the same way. Ninety-four percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans said that they were in favor of teaching the history of racism in schools.
CRT, as we've covered, has been a hot-button issue in school districts across the nation. In the Virginia gubernatorial race this year, Democratic candidate and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in one of the debates that he did not believe that parents should tell schools what curriculum they can teach their children.
Since the outcome of the Virginia election, where Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin won, several reports have suggested that McAuliffe's stance on keeping parents out of students' curriculum is what cost him the election. As Election Day neared, polls showed that education was one of the top issues for Virginia voters.
As Meghan McCain put it in one of her recent Daily Mail columns, "[m]any of us on the right wondered when the woke left would overreach. What bridge would finally be crossed where the American public would wake up and see just how dangerous it is to teach children that America is an irredeemable pit of racism and that the color of their skin and ONLY the color of their skin will dictate their future? Well now we know. Quite frankly it took less time than I anticipated. And as of today, a new voting demographic has emerged – Parent Power."
Monmouth's poll was conducted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8 with a random sample of 811 adults. The margin of sampling error for the poll is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
