UMass Poll: Democrats and Republicans divided over Juneteenth

On Monday, Juneteenth celebrations will take place across Boston.

Deemed a state holiday in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021, June 19 commemorates the arrival of Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas in 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — to inform enslaved people of their freedom and the end of the Civil War.

But according to a new University of Massachusetts Amherst and WCVB Poll, which surveyed 1,133 people between May 31 and June 8, some believe the date should have never been made a federal holiday.

According to the poll, 42% of respondents said they strongly or somewhat support Juneteenth being marked a federal holiday. And while 69% of Democrats showed support, only 13% of Republicans and 32% of Independents agreed.

Regarding a question discussing whether the significance and history of Juneteenth should be taught in classrooms, only 29% of Republicans expressed support while 84% of Democrats answered affirmatively. Seventy-nine percent of Black respondents felt the same, compared to 57% of all respondents.

Most, 68%, of Black respondents supported Juneteenth as a federal holiday, something only 38% of white respondents agreed with.

Seventy-six percent of Black respondents also stated the Republican party does “not too well” of a job of representing the interests of the Black community — a 37% mark for the Democratic party. And a vast majority, 91%, of Black respondents said the legacy of slavery affects African American people “a fair deal” to “a great amount” today, compared to 56% of all respondents.

And when asked about the future of race relations, 66% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans believed things will get better. Fifty-seven percent of Black respondents agreed, a mark similar to the average of 61% of all respondents who said the same.

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