Despite repeated calls from media, official action, and protests to remove monuments across the country, the American people aren’t so certain Confederate monuments –or other historical monuments–should be taken down. A pair of polls conducted since a white nationalist march in Charlottesville revealed Americans are somewhat united on leaving the statues alone.
More than 60 percent of respondents to a poll conducted by NPR, PBS, and Marist University said Confederate statutes should remain standing as historical symbols. In another poll, conducted by Economist/YouGov, 48 percent of respondents opposed removing removing a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville. The percent marked a plurality of respondents. Another 30 percent said the statue should be removed. The remainder had no opinion.
Almost universally, respondents in the Marist poll said the disagreed with the views of the Ku Klux Klan. More than 85 percent of respondents said they disagreed with the white supremacy movement.
In Missouri, people are talking more about next Monday’s solar eclipse than the 30-plus Confederate monuments and statues in the Show-Me State, according to an article in the Kansas City Star. A photo of a statue of Confederate Gen. Joseph O. Shelby accompanies the story. Shelby once lived in Waverly, Mo., and the statue sits in a park named for him.
As Waverly Mayor Barbara Schreiman told the paper, “Actually, a lot of people here probably don’t know who he is. Just some guy on a horse.”
