New Poll Finds 59% Of Californians Outright Oppose Cash Reparation Payments

According to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll released during the weekend, 59% of all Californians oppose cash reparations payments, with only 28% in favor of them, slowing the momentum for any possible legislation for a vote on reparations in the coming years.

Ever since the California Reparations Task Force was first set up in 2020 following a renewed effort for reparations in the wake of the George Floyd incident earlier that year, the question about reparations being given to black Californians has faced a rocky road. Even before any meetings were held, many questioned why reparations should even be given in California, as it was a union state during the Civil War, and not a slave state, as well as the fact that there is no one still alive who was a slave.

While reparations were paid by the federal government in 1988 to Japanese internment camp survivors, the money only went to living survivors.

Based upon arguments that the reparations would be instead for years of housing segregation, education injustice, an unjust legal system, and other social issues, the Task Force soon divided even more Californians after the first meetings. The panel voted 5-4 in March 2022 to limit payments only to descendants of slaves, and not black Californians of other ancestry. Money has also been a huge issue. Some estimates said that $569 billion was owed to black residents. Another one gave the figure of $1.2 million per each black resident. And then there was the final $800 billion estimate, – Task Force Members had to repeatedly ask the media to stop focusing on as the amount as it was being scrutinized nationwide. Despite this, the Task Force approved the $800 billion recommended figure in May.

While the final report was released the next month with the hope of having legislation crafted from it in the near future, it proved to be very trying. By that point, support for reparations remained low. The Task Force itself had support from only 39% of Californians in June according to a PPIC poll. Governor Gavin Newsom also dealt a huge blow to those in favor of reparations by saying that he would not support any cash payments.

Support waned even further, leading to the IGS poll on Sunday. According to the poll, only 28% of Californians approve of giving cash payment reparations. Conversely, 59% oppose cash payment reparations, with 13% having no opinion. When broken down by race, 76% of black residents favor cash payment reparations, but with other races not even coming close, with whites being at 25%, Asians at 23% and Latinos at 24%. Opposition figures were almost a perfect flip, with 65% of whites and 59% of Asians and Latinos opposing such reparations. Black voters, meanwhile had only 16% in opposition.

Age was also a big factor, with older voters skewing more in opposition to reparations. While the youngest group, 18-29 year-olds, had the greatest percentage in favor of reparations, they still ultimately fell short to those opposing them in that age group, with 34% in favor and 47% against. Meanwhile those 65 and older had only 23% in favor and 69% against.

Political party results were similar: Democrats were split, with 43% wanting cash reparations and 42% against them. Republicans were largely against reparations, with only 3% in favor and a whopping 91% against them. Voters with no party affiliation, meanwhile, had only 24% in favor, with 63% against.

A majority of Californians against cash reparations payments