Winthrop Poll: Majority in SC back Confederate flag’s removal

Two-thirds of South Carolinians agreed with the General Assembly’s decision in removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds this summer after the Charleston church shootings, a Winthrop University poll released Wednesday found.

Less than a year ago, just one-third of South Carolinians thought the Civil War icon should come down after flying at the state’s most prominent public building for five decades.

That was before an African-American pastor, who also was a state senator, and eight of his parishioners were gunned down at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in June. Authorities brought hate crime charges against the accused killer, who is white.

Slightly more than half of white respondents thought lawmakers made the right decision in taking down the Confederate flag, the Winthrop survey found. More than nine in 10 African-Americans backed the decision.

Half of Republicans supported the flag’s removal, while 83 percent of Democrats agreed with the decision.

To many South Carolinians, the Confederate flag remains more a symbol of Southern pride than racial conflict.

The poll found 47 percent of state residents see the flag as a heritage symbol versus 40 percent who see the banner as racially divisive.

The differences of opinion about the Confederate flag’s meaning are stark along racial and political lines.

More than 60 percent of white South Carolinians and nearly 70 percent of Republicans see the Confederate flag as a Southern pride symbol. Yet nearly three-quarters of African-Americans and about 60 percent of Democrats consider the banner as a sign of racial conflict.

Gov. Nikki Haley, who has received national praise for calling for the flag’s removal, saw her approval rating unchanged from Winthrop’s February poll at 55 percent.

But the potential vice presidential pick lost some backing from fellow S.C. Republicans.

Haley received a thumbs up from 68 percent of Republicans in the latest poll, but that was down from 78 percent from February.

Winthrop surveyed 963 South Carolinians by landline and cell phones between Sept. 20-27 for the poll.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 7:18 AM with the headline "Winthrop Poll: Majority in SC back Confederate flag’s removal."