More Americans have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of feminism than an unfavorable one (50% vs. 30%), the latest Economist / YouGov Poll finds. Soon after the death of Gloria Steinem, we asked Americans about her legacy and the state of gender equality.
More Americans say Steinem had a very or somewhat positive impact than say she had a negative one (38% vs. 13%); 36% are not sure about her impact. Far more Democrats say Steinem's impact was positive than negative (63% vs. 2%). Republicans are divided: 27% positive to 25% negative. More women than men say her impact was positive (43% vs. 32%).
Nearly half (45%) of Americans believe the country has not gone far enough in promoting equality between men and women. 38% say the country has gone about the right amount toward promoting gender equality, and 17% say it has gone too far. 75% of Democrats say it hasn't gone far enough, compared with 42% of Independents and 21% of Republicans. More women than men (57% vs. 33%) say the country has not gone far enough toward gender equality.
More Americans believe men are more advantaged in society than say the same about women (45% vs. 14%). One-third (33%) say neither men nor women have an advantage today. Women are more likely than men to say there are more advantages in being a man (53% vs. 37%) and less likely than men to say there are more advantages in being a woman (7% vs. 20%).
The latest poll also re-asked a question from earlier decades on what form of address Americans prefer for women: "Miss and Mrs." or "Ms." 54% of Americans prefer the former, while 30% prefer the latter. That is the narrowest gap we could find in the question's roughly 50-year history.
When the Roper Organization first asked a similar question in 1973, 75% of adults preferred Miss and Mrs. and only 11% preferred Ms. It was 66% to 21% in 1983, and 60% to 26% when CBS News last asked in 1997. The split today between Democrats and Republicans is bigger than the split between men and women. 71% of Republicans prefer Miss and Mrs. compared to only 37% of Democrats. Half (49%) of women prefer Miss and Mrs., as do 60% of men.
Only 17% of Americans strongly or somewhat agree that "women should take care of running their homes and leave running the country up to men," and 78% disagree. In October 1971, Louis Harris found that roughly half of adults agreed with this statement.
Image: Getty (Rachel Murray)
What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.