Poll: Southerners most likely to support preserving Confederacy's legacy
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The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee being removed off its pedestal in 2021. Photo: Bob Brown/Getty Images
Nearly 60% of Southerners support efforts to preserve the legacy of the Confederacy, which is more than Americans everywhere else (50%), a new poll finds.
Why it matters: It suggests a dedication to keeping alive the "Lost Cause" myth created by white Southerners, which romanticizes the Confederacy and debates slavery as the root cause of the Civil War, nearly 160 years ago.
By the numbers: The survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that Black Americans (25%) were the only racial group without majority support for those efforts.
- 81% of Republicans support versus 30% of Democrats.
- A quarter of Americans believe Confederate monuments should be left as is, while over a third say they should have information about slavery and racism.
- More than 60% see Confederate monuments — and naming public spaces after Confederates —as a symbol of Southern pride compared to 33% who said they're a symbol of racism.
Between the lines: Historians say the Lost Cause reinforced white supremacy in public spaces and was used to scare Black Americans from fighting segregation or seeking racial equality.
State of play: Edward Pollard, a Virginian and editor of a Confederate newspaper in Richmond, is said to have coined the "Lost Cause" term in 1866.
- Virginia went on to have the most Confederate symbols in the U.S., with the nation's largest being the Lee Monument that once stood on Monument Avenue in Richmond.
- After the police killing of George Floyd, Virginia removed the most Confederate symbols in the country.
The latest: The conservative backlash to the 2020 protests has led to new state laws limiting the discussion of slavery in public schools, and conservatives fighting to restore Confederate monuments and names on schools.
- A Virginia school board voted last month to reinstate the original Confederate names of two public schools.
- Last week, 192 House Republicans voted for an amendment that would have required a Confederate monument be reinstated at Arlington National Cemetery, per Newsweek.
The other side: Richmond Public Schools, however, has continued renaming schools named after Confederates or those who enslaved people.
Go deeper: Majority of Americans support preserving Confederate history.