Pushing Corporate Diversity More Accepted Than Politicized ‘DEI’

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at businesses and other institutions garner wide support from voters across all demographics, but only when they’re explained using more than the acronym “DEI,” a new study shows.

Support for “diversity, equity and inclusion” when spelled out scored “very positive” on a sliding scale among liberals, moderates and even conservatives, while 40% of participants in a recent poll said they were unfamiliar with the term “DEI.”

Twice as many voters say increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion within large US institutions such as corporations and government agencies is “a good thing” than say it is a “bad thing,” according to the study led by Bellwether Research, which conducts polling and analyses on behalf of center-right politicians like former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

“DEI,” as a term, has been co-opted by conservatives and thus taken on a different meaning, said Christine Matthews, president of Bellwether Research.

The study, which reflects results from surveying more than 3,100 registered voters in the US, comes as corporate DEI initiatives that grew in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020 are increasingly under fire from conservatives. It also comes after several large corporations bowed to pressure from right-wing podcaster Robby Starbuck to roll back some—or all—their DEI commitments over the summer.

A takeaway from the findings is that companies should not allow conservative “activists” and politicians to impose their ideologies, Matthews said.

“Private funds and private companies should do darn-well what they believe,” Matthews told reporters during an online presentation, reflecting on sentiments expressed by participants of the survey. “They do not like the idea that these activists are trying to impose their worldview on firms that are private.”

Democratic activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who endorsed the study through her nonprofit American Pride Rises, said DEI needs to be defined more broadly than just gender and race or ethnicity. Diversity also covers people from different geographies and political ideologies, for example, Abrams told reporters during the presentation.

“We have to expand and widen how we think about DEI, because it’s emboldened those who attack it because they know that you’re not paying attention to all of these assets,” Abrams said.