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In the wake of sexual abuse allegations against civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, many Americans now want to rename schools, streets, and other things bearing Chavez's name, a new YouGov poll finds.

This sentiment is widespread despite close to half the country not being familiar with the allegations against Chavez at the time of YouGov's poll, conducted Thursday afternoon through Friday morning. 13% had heard a lot about the allegations, 39% a little, and 47% nothing at all.

After being told about the allegations, 52% of Americans support renaming things bearing Chavez's name. That includes 22% who say they never should have been named after Chavez and 29% who supported naming things for him before the allegations but now support renaming. Renaming is supported by 62% of those who've heard a little about Chavez's allegations and 76% of those who've heard a lot.

Only 11% of Americans oppose renaming things with Chavez's name. The ratio of support to opposition for removing Chavez's name is greater than three among men and women, among Hispanic Americans, and among liberals, moderates, and conservatives. The ratio of support to opposition also is three or greater among Hispanic men under 45, older Hispanic men, Hispanic women under 45, and older Hispanic women.

In a June 2025 poll conducted before the sexual abuse allegations, 27% of Americans said public places should be named after Chavez and 26% said they should not be.

Half of Americans don't have a strong opinion about Chavez, but those who do are now much more likely to view him negatively than positively: 17% of Americans have a very or somewhat favorable view of Chavez, while 33% have an unfavorable view of him and 50% aren't sure.

Dolores Huerta, Chavez's fellow civil rights leader who this week accused him of sexual abuse, is even less well-known: 69% of Americans aren't sure what their opinion of her is. But while those who do have an opinion about Chavez are more likely to have a negative one, twice as many Americans have a favorable view of Huerta as an unfavorable view (20% vs. 11%)

Among the minority of Americans who've heard a lot about the allegations against Chavez, things are much starker. In this group, Chavez is overwhelmingly unpopular (22% favorable vs. 66% unfavorable), while Huerta is fairly popular (50% vs. 20%).

YouGov asked respondents their views of Chavez and Huerta before telling them about the sexual abuse allegations.

Chavez's net favorability — the share with a favorable opinion minus the share with an unfavorable opinion — is -45 among Americans who have heard a lot about the allegations, -29 among those who've heard a little about them, and +2 among those who had heard nothing at all.

This split holds true across racial, gender, and political groups. Among Hispanics, for example, Chavez's net favorability is +19 with those who haven't heard about the allegations, -14 among those who have heard a little, and -46 among those who have heard a lot.

Chavez is more popular among liberals than conservatives. But in both groups, Chavez is much less popular among those who've heard of the sexual abuse allegations. For example, among very liberal Americans, Chavez's net favorability is +19 with those who haven't heard about the allegations and -42 with those who've heard a lot. Among very conservative Americans, his net favorability is -11 among those who haven't heard of the allegations and -49 among those who've heard a lot.

See the full results of this poll:

Methodology: The Daily Questions survey was conducted online on March 19 - 20, 2026, among 11,678 U.S. adults. The samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error is approximately 1%.

Image: Getty (Michael Ciaglo / Stringer)

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