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The majority of California voters oppose reparation payments to Black residents who are descendants of enslaved people, a poll out of UC Berkeley shows.
The August survey, completed by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, suggests that empathy for Black residents probably wouldn’t result in a favorable vote for financial restitution if put on a ballot — even among California liberals.
These cash payments are one of 115 recommendations recently provided to California by the Reparations Task Force, which was created in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Presented in a 1,080-page report in June, the task force’s suggestions on how the state can repay citizens impacted by slavery include legal reforms, policy changes and new programs.
But cash payments — intended to address inequities including life expectancy, incarceration levels and housing opportunities — have been one of the group’s most controversial points. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, the first Black woman to lead the city, has expressed resistance to cash payments as part of the city’s separate reparations efforts.
Now, these poll results put the implementation of cash reparations in California further in doubt.
A crowd listens to speakers at a reparations rally outside of San Francisco City Hall in March.
Jeff Chiu/Associated PressWhile 60% of California voters polled by UC Berkeley said that they believe the legacy of slavery impacts the position of the state’s Black residents today, 59% oppose cash reparations. Of that 59%, 44% responded that they are “strongly opposed.”
“The findings reveal the racial and political contradictions of California voters,” institute co-director Cristina Mora said in a news release. “While many can empathize with the plight of Black Americans, not all of these feelings will translate into support for policies that address longstanding racial harms.”
Republican voters are overwhelmingly against cash reparations — 91%, according to the poll. But Democratic voters are split on the issue, with 43% in favor and 42% opposed.
“The fact that even liberals are divided indicates that campaigns for racial redress will face a steep uphill climb,” Mora said.
From a race perspective, only Black voters (76%) were largely in favor of payments, compared with 25% of white voters, 24% of Latino voters and 23% of Asian and Pacific Islander voters.
Aleta Toure — of the organization Got Reparations? — speaks to California’s Reparations Task Force at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood in April 2022.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2022Knowledge of the issue may be a contributing factor to the opposition, the survey suggests, as only 62% of voters said they had previously heard of the state’s Reparations Task Force.
When asked why they were against cash reparations, two explanations stood out to the Institute of Governmental Studies pollsters. Those opposed did not believe it was fair to ask taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past, or to single out one group when other racial and religious groups have also been wronged.
But UC Berkeley Associate Professor Jovan Scott Lewis, who is on the IGS faculty advisory board and a member of the task force, said the poll’s question about cash payments misled respondents into thinking that reparations are “nothing more than a handout.” The question did not specify the task force’s basis for financial reimbursement, he argued in a statement to the Chronicle, and implied that payments were “for being Black in California and experiencing racism, as a generic condition of being Black.”
The poll “presents inadequate information to California voters,” said Lewis, “and undermines the much-deserved economic reparations owed to Black Californians.”
The poll results also don’t mean that California voters oppose all kinds of reparations for Black residents. A May report from UCLA’s Center for African American Studies found majority support for reparations, but particularly noncash monetary measures, such as investment in education, housing, health care and economic development.
Reach Jess Lander: jess.lander@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @jesslander
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