Voters Reject the Racism of the Insular Cases — and so should the Supreme Court
By Gustavo Sanchez
Today, the House Natural Resources Committee (NRC) is holding a hearing exclusively about the Insular Cases, the first of its kind. The Insular Cases are a series of Supreme Court cases which provide a colonial framework for the U.S. to continue to discriminate against residents of the territories. In consideration today by the NRC is House Resolution 279 which seeks to acknowledge that the Insular Cases are contrary to the constitution of the U.S. and rely on long rejected racial views and stereotypes.
Leading up to this hearing, Data for Progress asked likely voters about the Insular Cases in a May survey. We found that voters want the country to move beyond the Insular Cases. Overall, a plurality of voters (47 percent) support the Supreme Court overruling the Insular Cases. Similarly, 42 percent of voters support Congressional action to condemn the Insular Cases, like those being taken today by the NRC. With nearly half of voters supporting various actions aimed at reducing the harm that the Insular Cases cause, there is little opposition. Roughly one-third of voters still didn’t know enough about the Insular Cases to express an opinion, even with a short description having been provided in the question text.
In terms of partisanship, Democrats expressed higher levels of support for the Supreme Court Overruling the Insular Cases, with more than half (52 percent) saying they would support changing the precedent, and only 19 percent saying they would oppose this change. Republicans were less supportive, but even still, a plurality support overruling them (39 percent), and only about one-quarter oppose (24 percent). Interestingly, rural voters were just as supportive as suburban voters, with urban voters not very far behind.
We found similar levels of support for Congressional action to condemn continued reliance on the Insular Cases, particularly among Democrats. Half of voters identifying as Democrats support Congress taking actions against the Insular Cases, among Republicans it’s 36 percent, and among Independents it’s 38 percent. Again, opposition was fairly minimal with only one-quarter of all likely voters saying they would be opposed.
Methodology
From May 5 to 6, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 664 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.
Authorship
Gustavo Sanchez (@lgsanchezconde) is a Principal at Data for Progress.