82 Percent: Employers Should Be Allowed Background Checks

May 16, 2024: Eighty-two percent (82%) of voters say that employers should be allowed to require background checks of potential employees as part of the application process. A Scott Rasmussen national survey conducted by RMG Research found that just 10% say they should not be allowed to require them.

When asked specifically about retail companies that experience high levels of petty theft, 94% believe it is reasonable for employers to require applicants to pass criminal background checks.

This follows a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Sheetz, a large gas and convenience store chain. The EEOC alleges that Sheetz’s policy of requiring criminal background checks for all applicants amounts to racial discrimination because minorities fail those background checks at higher rates than white applicants.

However, the survey found that, even if people of a particular gender, racial or ethnic group are less likely to pass such background checks, 80% of voters say requiring them is not a form of discrimination.

Methodology

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on April 25-24, 2024. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of registered voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left nearly a decade ago and has had no involvement since that time.

Survey Questions

Some employers require applicants to pass a criminal background check before being hired. Should employers be allowed to require these sorts of background checks as a condition of employment?

• 82%-Yes
• 10%-No
• 8%-Not sure

Retail companies experience high levels of petty theft. When hiring employees who are going to have access to merchandise and cash, is it reasonable for such stores to require job applicants to pass a criminal background check?

• 69%-Very reasonable
• 25%-Somewhat reasonable
• 3%-Somewhat unreasonable
• 1%-Very unreasonable
• 1%-Not sure

Generally speaking, men are less likely than women to pass criminal background checks. Knowing this to be true, does requiring a criminal background check discriminate against men?

• 14%-Yes
• 80%-No
• 7%-Not sure

What about race? If people from some racial and ethnic groups are less likely to pass criminal background checks, is requiring a criminal background check a form of racial discrimination?

• 15%-Yes
• 80%-No
• 6%-Not sure