• A large majority (68%) of registered voters agree with the Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional for colleges to give preferential admission to students based on race. Only 23% disagree.
  • These numbers include 43% who Strongly Agree and just 9% who Strongly Disagree.
  • In October, voters felt the same as 72% agreed with the court's decision, and only 19% disagreed.
  • By an 85% to 9% margin, Republicans overwhelmingly agree that it is unconstitutional for colleges to give preferential admission to students based on race.
  • More evenly divided, a narrow majority of Democrats still agree with the Supreme Court ruling by a 52% to 38% margin.
• However, only about one quarter (28%) of voters say elite schools like Harvard accept the best students exclusively on merit.
  • Half (49%) disagree and say elite schools accept some students to ensure racial diversity.
  • Another quarter (23%) are not sure.
• Given different scenarios, a majority of voters still prefer a merit-based system.
  • Currently, 40% of Harvard students are Asian, far above the percentage of Asians in America (7%).
  • A plurality (33%) believe that number would go up in a merit-based system. Just 24% say it would go down.
• Even if, under a merit-based system, the number of Asian students grew dramatically so that most Harvard students were Asian, 55% would still favor a completely merit-based system.
• The same principle applies when asked about Black students.
  • Currently, a little more than 10% of Harvard's students are Black, roughly the same as the national average.
• If, in a merit-based system, the number of Black students fell dramatically so that only 1% or 2% of Harvard students were Black, 57% would still favor a completely merit-based system.
• Overall, given all of the complexities, 58% of voters ended up saying that colleges should accept students solely based on merit.
  • Just 27% say preferences should be given to ensure racial diversity.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, January 11-12, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.