Readers React: An agenda-driven poll on affirmative action?

To the editor: The premise of Karthick Ramakrishnan’s Op-Ed article hinges on the positive response he received to one survey question: “Do you favor or oppose affirmative action programs designed to help blacks, women and other minorities get better jobs and education?” (“California needs to look again at Asian stance on affirmative action,” Op-Ed, Sept. 25)

Now, was this objective or simply an attempt to get the result the professor wanted? A more objective question would be: “Do you believe there should be discrimination or preference on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex in deciding who is admitted to public universities, awarded public contracts and hired for state and local employment?”

That question would more fairly mirror the language in Proposition 209 that was at issue here. And, based on many other surveys, it would not have been likely to lead to the positive response that Ramakrishnan wanted.

Roger Clegg, Falls Church, Va.

Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, served in the Justice Department in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

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