Pew Poll: 1 in 5 Republicans Say Multi-Ethnic Society Has Negative Impact

Twenty-one percent of Republicans and GOP leaning voters believe ethnic diversity has a negative impact on the country's culture, a new poll by the Pew Research Center reveals.

Fifty percent of Republicans say it has a positive impact, compared to 29% who say it does not make much difference.

Here are highlights from the poll, released on Wednesday:

• 5% of Democrats and Democratic leaning voters say ethnic diversity has a negative impact, compared to 77% who say it has a positive impact. 17% say it does not make much difference.
• 57% of all those polled say racial and ethnic diversity is very good for the country. 20% say it is somewhat good, 5% say it is somewhat bad and 1% say it is very bad.
• 7% say diversity makes it easier for policymakers to solve problems, compared to 47% who say diversity makes it harder. 45% say it does not make much difference.
• 74% say employers should only take a person's qualifications into account when hiring, even if it results in less diversity.
• 24% say employers should take a person's race and ethnicity into account in addition to qualifications, in order to increase diversity.

The poll, conducted Jan. 22-Feb. 5, surveyed 6,637 people. It has a margin of error of 1.7 percentage points.

• The Economics of Celebrating Diversity
• The Call for Chief Diversity Officers in Govt Business