Face The State Staff Report
A November ballot initiative that would rein in preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity by public entities got a significant boost from some unexpected poll results.
A national survey conducted jointly by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post.com, and Quinnipiac University released Thursday shows that the majority of Colorado voters — Democrat and Republican alike — overwhelmingly support Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative. The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit government from considering race or gender in education, government employment, or public contracting.
The poll, conducted last week, showed that 66 percent of all voters surveyed were supportive of the initiative's language, with just 15 percent saying they were opposed. Democrats were much more likely to support the initiative than Republicans, with 71 percent of all registered Democrats surveyed supporting the initiative's language, compared to 61 percent of all registered Republicans.
According to Ward Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Institute and an active supporter of the Colorado campaign, supporters were glad to hear about the polling data but not all that surprised. "These results are consistent with what we are finding throughout the country," he said. “The American people — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — have grown very weary of race preferences and believe the time has come to end them, especially in view of the political success of United States Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”
“[The initiative's] acceptance by the majority of Democrats refutes the notion that women and minorities need special treatment to ‘level the playing field,’” Connerly added.
Connerly, a former University of California Regent, has had success repealing race-based affirmative action policies in the past, championing successful past campaigns in California, Washington, and Michigan.
Proposition 209 was approved by California voters in 1996 and amended the state Constitution to effectively outlaw gender and race-based preferences in hiring state employees and admitting prospective students to its public university system.
Several attempts to contact Colorado Unity, a political action group with the creed of preserving affirmative action policies and opposing the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, were not returned.