South Carolina Residents Strongly Favor English as the Nation's Official Language

78 percent of registered voters in South Carolina support making English the official language of the United States, according to a recent poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. The survey, which comes within seven months of South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential primary, found that the overwhelming majority of Palmetto State residents want the federal government to conduct business in English, including strong majorities within each political party. The survey of 625 registered voters was conducted June 14-17, 2007 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

In recent presidential debate, support for official English was mixed, with many of the Republican candidates indicating their support and many of the Democrats indicating opposition. The poll results demonstrate that there is a much narrower divide among South Carolina voters, with 84 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats saying they support official English legislation. More than four-in-five Independents also voiced support for the measure.

"A government focus on assimilation is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue," said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. English, Inc. "South Carolinians, like all Americans, want the federal government to provide immigrants a segue to upward mobility, not a lifetime linguistic crutch, and they will continue to support candidates who will work toward that ideal."

Establishing English as the official language of the United States would require the government to conduct business overwhelmingly in English and limit governmental multilingualism to common-sense activities such as health care, public safety, judicial proceedings and tourism. Twice in the last two years the U.S. Senate has approved amendments to make English the national language and reduce foreign language entitlements. Both measures were supported by South Carolina Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham. In addition, H.R. 997 legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives to make English the official language, has more than 100 co-sponsors in the 110th Congress, including South Carolina representatives Joe Wilson, Gresham Barrett and Bob Inglis.