Affirmative Action Programs for Women and Minorities : Expressed Support Affected by Question Order

This paper examines the effects of question ordering on support for affirmative action (AA) for women and racial minorities. Public opinion surveys show that the public expresses greater support for gender-targeted AA than for race-targeted AA, but no research has addressed the extent to which expressed support for one group influences expressed support toward the other. We examine this question by testing the effects of question order on reported support for race and gender targets. Using a split-ballot experimental design, national data show that presenting gender-targeted AA before race-targeted AA increases reported support for the racial target, and conversely, presenting race-targeted AA first decreases reported support for gender-targeted AA. The order effects imply that race still has a significant impact on these considerations. The study finds exceptions to this rule among blacks and liberals, whose support for AA programs is unaffected by the order in which the programs are considered