News & Media

Missouri Voters Show Strong Support for Official English Initiative

Poll of likely voters finds supporters outnumbering opponents by 3-to-1 margin

A recent poll conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV has found that supporters of Missouri's official English ballot initiative outnumber opponents by more than 3-to-1. The survey, done by Research 2000, found that 67 percent of likely voters favor making English the language of all official proceedings in the state, compared to just 21 percent who opposed it and 12 percent who were unsure. The November poll of 800 Missouri likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

"Legislation to make English the official language has always been strongly supported by the people and Missourians are no exception," said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. English, Inc. "Voters understand that our common language of English has allowed us to fuse a strong union from our diversity and make us the leading nation we are today. By doing government business in English, we will continue to uphold this unifying bond and stop separating people along language lines."

In May, the Missouri House and Senate agreed to H.J.R. 7, a Constitutional Amendment requiring that English be used at any meeting of a public governmental body at which any public business is discussed or decided. The initiative, which will likely appear on the November 2008 general election ballot, has been endorsed by the two leading candidates for Missouri Governor, incumbent Matt Blunt and attorney general Jay Dixon. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/KMOV-TV poll, supporters outnumbered opponents among Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Though Missouri made English its official language in 1998, the existing legislation does not require the use of English in official government proceedings. H.J.R. 7 notes exceptions where other languages may be used, such as at informal gatherings of legislators for social or ministerial functions.

Official English measures have passed all nine times they have appeared on a statewide ballot, including in Nov. 2006 when Arizona voters made English the official language of the state by nearly a 3-to-1 margin.

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.