A third of Americans are okay with blackface on Halloween, poll finds

A new poll has found that a stunning number of Americans believe wearing blackface as part of a Halloween costume is okay.

A poll from the Pew Research Center found that 34 percent of respondents felt blackface for a Halloween costume is either sometimes or always acceptable. This included 19 percent who said it's sometimes okay and 15 percent who said it's always okay. For comparison, 16 percent said doing so is rarely acceptable, while 37 percent said it's never acceptable.

Opinions on this issue vary depending on party affiliation and race, as the poll found that while 51 percent of Democrats said blackface as part of a Halloween costume is never acceptable, only 21 percent of Republicans said the same thing, with 50 percent of those on the right saying it's sometimes or always okay. Young Americans were also far less likely to think blackface is okay under any circumstances, with 41 percent of adults under 29 saying it's never acceptable, compared to 29 percent of people between the ages of 50 and 64 saying the same. And while 39 percent of white respondents said it's sometimes or always okay, only 18 percent of black respondents agreed.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This survey was released Monday, but was largely conducted before Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) came under fire for saying he wore blackface in medical school while dressing as Michael Jackson for a dance contest. His admission came after a photo from his yearbook page was published showing a person wearing blackface standing next to a person in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

Pew Research Center conducted the poll from Jan. 22 to Feb. 5 by surveying 5,599 adult respondents online. The margin of error is 1.7 percentage points. Brendan Morrow