61% Believe American Society Fair

While Americans are less hopeful about our nation’s future than they were in 2004, 61% continue to believe that American society is generally fair and decent. Just 30% believe that it is unfair and discriminatory. Those numbers are little changed from a survey conducted immediately following Election 2004.

Republicans, by a 77% to 16% margin, believe that American society is generally fair and decent. However, Democrats are evenly divided—44% hold the positive view and an equal number say that our society is generally unfair and discriminatory.

Older Americans are far more likely to believe that American society is generally fair and decent. Among those under 30, just 52% hold that view while 43% disagree.

Among all voters, 76% believe that those who move to the United States should adopt our nation's culture, language, and heritage. That’s up nine points from 2004. Today, just 12% disagree. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of conservatives believe that new arrivals should adopt the USA’s culture. That view is shared by 77% of moderates and 59% of liberals.

In terms of America’s role in the world, 44% think that our allies should do what the U.S. wants more often. Twenty-nine percent (29%) think that, in the interests of co-operation, the U.S. should do what its allies want more often. Those figures have shifted slightly since 2004.

While wanting more co-operation from our allies, Americans also favor a new approach to Iraq by a 2-to-1 margin.

The national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports November 8-9, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.