Poll Shows Who Americans Regard As Favorite Personality of the Civil War Era (Part III)

This is the third in my series at looking at the YouGov survey just released on Americans attitudes towards the Civil War and Reconstruction. The first is on how we study the Civil War and the second is on who caused the war and the justifiability of each side.

As most people who study the Civil War would likely guess, the top-rated figure of the Civil War and Reconstruction Era was Abraham Lincoln, with 82% having a very or somewhat favorable opinion. The most disliked was Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.

 

Lincoln did well among all demographic groups. 85% of women said they viewed Lincoln “Very” or “Somewhat” favorable. 86% of White people said they viewed Lincoln as favorable. In the South, only 11% said they had an unfavorable view of Lincoln, which is somewhat more favorable than people from the Northeast!

Jefferson Davis, who was the only president of the Confederacy, did not come off very well. He was ranked at the bottom of all Civil War figures. A third of respondents did not even know who he was! Southerners ranked Davis higher than people from other regions, giving him a slightly favorable standing among those from south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Ulysses S. Grant, who from the 1920s until the 1950s had seen a decline in his standing, has made a major comeback. He was the third most popular figure of the Civil War Era in this poll. Grant was viewed favorably by every region. 62% of Southerners viewed Grant favorably, compared to 40% of  Southerners asked about Jefferson Davis.

Robert E. Lee, for the middle part of the 20th Century, had an advantage on Grant in reputation. Lee now takes a back seat to Grant. Unlike Davis, however, Lee’s reputation has not totally fallen away. For people 65 and over, Lee has some fans with a good favorable rating, with 56% saying they have a “Very” or “Somewhat” favorable view of Lee. Even among Blacks there is a little more than a third who hold favorable views of Lee. However, apart from Davis, Lee had the most unfavorable votes of anyone on the list.

Except for Lincoln, the person viewed the most favorably by the respondents is Harriet Tubman. During the 100th Anniversary of the Civil War, Tubman was an ancillary character. However, during the second half of the 1960s and 1970s Tubman began to attract attention as an opponent of slavery, an advocate for Black rights, and an historic woman. Over the last quarter century, Tubman’s life has been explored in scholarly biographies, two National Park sites have opened devoted to her, and a major motion picture premiered. Black and Women’s History courses taught at high school and college reinforce the central place of Tubman.

Tubman does well with every demographic group. In the South, 74% have a favorable view of Tubman and in the Northeast 88% have that view as well.

The other Upstate New York Black leader included in the poll is Frederick Douglass.

Here, the poll shows that of those who know Douglass, respondents viewed him favorably, with only 10% viewing him unfavorably. However, 31% said they did not know him or did not have an opinion of him.

Next, we’ll finish our look at  this survey.

 

Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:

•