More Americans disapprove than approve of colleges considering race, ethnicity in admissions decisions, study shows

By Ashley R. Williams, CNN

(CNN) — Half of surveyed adults in the US disapprove of students’ race and ethnicities factoring into the college admissions process, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

The poll of over 5,000 people found that 33% of respondents approved of colleges and universities boosting diversity by considering racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Sixteen percent of people were not sure where they stood on the issue, according to Pew Research Center.

The survey, conducted between March 27 and April 2, comes ahead of anticipated US Supreme Court decisions in two related cases involving the factoring of race in admissions at Harvard College and University of North Carolina.

The private college and public university’s officials say the practice has increased their campuses’ levels of diversity.

Both SCOTUS decisions are expected sometime in June.

The survey found that “Americans are more than twice as likely to say that the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions decisions makes the overall process less fair (49%) rather than fairer (20%); 17% say this does not affect the process,” according to Pew.

Only 11% of those surveyed said students accepted into colleges were more qualified than they would be if their racial and ethnic backgrounds weren’t considered.

A third of respondents felt differently, believing that students accepted to colleges that consider race were less qualified. Nearly four-in-10 people said students are “neither more nor less qualified than they would be otherwise,” the survey showed.

When asked whether they felt students’ educational experiences were impacted by schools that factor race into admissions processes, 27% said the learning experience was better at these colleges and 26% felt it was worse, according to Pew.

About 24% of Black Americans who responded said they “have personally been disadvantaged in their education or career” by efforts to increase diversity, while 11% said they’ve benefited from the efforts, according to Pew.

White Republicans who responded “overwhelmingly disapprove” of colleges considering the race and ethnicity of applicants, with 78% of those surveyed being against it and 51% strongly disapproving of the practice.

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CNN’s Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.