More on busing

In March, I had a post on public opinion concerning busing in the 1970s.  I didn't expect that to become an issue in the presidential campaign, but in the wake of the exchange between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in last week's debate people are talking about busing again (although I don't think anyone's proposed bringing it back).  At first, the general view among people who commented on the exchange seemed to be that Biden had something to apologize for, but now some are making the point I made:  that busing was unpopular with the public.  A New York Times story refers to a 1973 Gallup Poll that found only 9% of blacks and 5% of whites thought busing was the best way to integrate the schools.  But that's not a very good measure of support for busing--for example, someone could have thought the integration of housing was the best way to integrate schools in the long run, but also favored busing as something that could be done immediately.  The question asked about "integration in terms of different economic and racial groups":  27% chose "change school boundaries," 22% chose "create more housing for low-income people in middle-income neighborhoods," 5% busing, 22% "do something other than the above," and 18 percent "I oppose the integration of schools", while 17% had no opinion (those add to over 100%, so the question must have allowed multiple answers). 

The Gallup Poll also had a question that started in 1970 and was later picked up by the General Social Survey:  "In general, do you favor or oppose the busing of negro [later black or African-American] and white school children from one school district to another?"  The percent who said they favored it is shown in the figure:

An upward trend, but support was under 20% during the 1970s.  However, the question just asked about "busing"--integration was implied, but not explicitly mentioned.  Maybe mentioning a goal that most people supported made a difference?  In 1975, Roper asked "are you in favor of or opposed to school busing to achieve racial integration in the public schools?"  12% said they were in favor, 74% opposed, and 10% volunteered that they had mixed feelings.  That's not much different from the 17% support in the Gallup/GSS question that year.  A couple of polls taken for Richard Nixon in 1971 and 1972 asked about "busing of students on a compulsory basis to achieve racial integration" and found 17% in favor.  In 1976-8, some surveys asked whether "Racial integration of the schools should be achieved even it requires busing":  20-25% said yes, which was a little higher than support in the Gallup/GSS question.  So mentioning integration seems to have made only a little difference.

Finally, in 1976 there was "Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: 'Sometimes busing may be necessary if it is the only way to integrate the schools.'"  40% agreed.  That's considerably higher support.  My guess is that some people regarded busing as justified in extreme cases, and that most of them would answer no to the "in general" question.  I couldn't find any questions asking whether people thought busing was justified in particular cases (real or hypothetical).


[Data from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]