Posted on April 29, 2021

Americans Still Support English as Official Language

Rasmussen Reports, April 14, 2021

More than half the states have made English their official language, and nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that should be the policy nationwide.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 73% of American Adults think English should be the official language of the United States. Only 18% disagree. {snip}

However, support for English as the official language of the U.S. government has been trending downward in Rasmussen Reports surveys since 2006. Two years ago, 77% supported official English, and the number was 83% as recently as 2014.

When asked more specifically if election ballots and other official government documents should be printed in English only, however, a majority of Americans now approve multilingualism. Forty percent (40%) favor English only, down from 47% two years ago, while 53% think ballots and other documents also should be printed in other languages.

Here, too, support for English-only has declined over the years. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Likely U.S. Voters favored ballots and other government documents only in English in 2006.

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Official English retains majority approval across demographic and political categories. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans think English should be the official language of the United States, as do 64% of Democrats and 70% of those not affiliated with either major party. {snip}

Majorities of whites (74%), blacks (73%) and other minorities (71%) support English as the official national language. Blacks (46%) and other minorities (43%) are actually more likely than whites (38%) to say election ballots and other official government documents should be printed in English only.

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