There’s a big new survey (from Post-Ipsos) on American attitudes toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. Itโs worth reading the full article in the Washington Post.
The main takeaway: ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐.
And, importantly, specific DEI programs get even higher support (framing matters!).ย E.g., 69% support “programs to hire more employees from groups that are underrepresented in their workforce, such as racial and ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, to promote equity in the workplace.”
We often see this polling pattern on progressive issues. People may feel uneasy about general equality and well-being policies (which could sound like having a Scandinavian-style welfare state), but respond much better to specific questions like, “Should everyone have health insurance?”
In a broadly positive poll, the most negative number is that 34% of white people say DEI hurts white people as a group. And yet, ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐% ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ. Thatโs really low given the negative attention and all the noise about anti-ESG, anti-woke, and so on.
Of course there’s a big split by political party: even with the more specific framing, just under a majority (49%) of Republicans supported it vs. 91% of Dems.
Some companies with a largely Republican customer base may decide to abandon DEI, like the Fortune 500 Tractor Supply Company, which just announced it would “eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals.” (It also, less logically, rescinded its carbon reduction goals which would almost certainly lower costs – more on this later).
But most companies, especially those with broad geographic and demographic customer bases, ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ.
Beyond poll numbers, DEI is the right thing to do, and it’s good business. Pursuing diversity was never about appeasing progressives. No, it’s an acknowledgment of the advantages of diversity in thought and representation and an understanding that the world IS more diverse. In the U.S., the under-20 crowd is now majority non-white.
So good luck appealing to younger employees and consumers without a commitment to DEI.
[See discussion of a shorter version of this article on LinkedIn]
[Image originally from Bing AI, with some inexpert editing from me]
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