5 “Problematic” Opinions That Are Held by Most Americans

Many views labeled as “problematic” by progressives and journalists are actually mainstream opinions in America.

Mass deportation: In 2017, UCLA professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez echoed a prevailing elite media opinion when she argued that “America’s mass deportation system is rooted in racism.”

• What Americans think: A majority of Americans, including 1 in 4 Democrats, support mass deportations of illegal immigrants, per a Scripps News/Ipsos survey from September.

Voter ID: State courts, professors and Democratic politicians have claimed laws requiring voters to present photo identification before casting their ballots are discriminatory.

• What Americans think: A whopping 84% of U.S. voters back voter ID laws, according to a new Gallup survey.

Affirmative action: Last year, Elie Mystal, a justice correspondent for The Nation, claimed opposition to affirmative action in college admissions was a product of “the soft bigotry of parents, whose commitment to integration and equality turns cold the moment their little cherubs fail to get into their first choice of college or university.”

• What Americans think: A plurality (50%) of Americans disapprove of universities taking race and ethnicity into account when admitting students, and 74% say “when making decisions about hiring and promotions, companies and organizations should take only a person’s qualifications into account, even if it results in less diversity.”

Gender ideology: Last year, the Biden administration proposed a rule which would prohibit schools from banning transgender athletes from sports.

• What Americans think: While Americans oppose discrimination against transgender people, more than 6 in 10 say trans women and girls should not be allowed to compete against biological women and girls, and nearly 60% of U.S. adults “don’t believe it’s even possible to be a gender that differs from that assigned at birth.”

Drug testing: Writing in The New York Times in 2017, Cornell professor Jamila Michener claimed laws requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug testing resulted in stigmas and racist stereotypes.

• What Americans think: As a recent San Francisco ballot measure showed, even Americans in liberal cities often support drug testing requirements for people who receive government assistance.

Bubba’s Two Cents

It seems like many people are waking up to the reality that America isn’t quite the progressive utopia they’d imagined. And it’s leading to some pretty cynical backtracking. For instance, some Democrats are now falsely claiming the party has never opposed voter ID laws, Dem presidential nominee Kamala Harris has tacked to the center on multiple issues and transgender rights talk was glaringly absent at the Democratic National Convention.