When Civil Rights Frames Fail: Public Opinion About Racial Equity and Education Policy Responses

As policy efforts to advance racial equity and diversity are under attack, the role that issue framing may play in building public support or opposition to equity-focused policies requires more study. What frames are effective at building support for equity-focused policies in education, and among whom? Replicating and extending previous work, we applied framing theory to understand the effects of common issue frames for racial equity in education policy. In a pre-registered survey experiment, we compared an “equity/civil rights” frame, an economic frame, and no frame. We found that framing racial equity in education as an economic issue was effective at eliciting higher levels of issue-priority, and this effect was driven by respondents who held more conservative policy positions. Similarly, among respondents who believe structural factors are less important in explaining racial disparities in education, the economic framing was more effective. Furthermore, the framing effects were asymmetric: the equity/civil rights frame had null effects overall and no moderation. Frames did not impact support for specific policies.