PRESS RELEASE: 73% Favor Making English the Nation’s Official Language of Government Operations

WASHINGTON, D.C.— “A poll conducted on March 10-11 by Rasmussen Reports reveals 73 percent of respondents support making English the official language of the federal government, contrasted to 21 percent opposed or somewhat opposed and 7 percent not sure. This indicates strong support for President Donald Trump’s recent Executive Order designating English as the official language of the federal government,” says Acting Executive Director Stephanie White of the Washington-based ProEnglish.

“The poll of 1,059 likely voters that ProEnglish commissioned (see the crosstabs link) emphasizes the popularity of the Trump order which repeals the Clinton-era Executive Order 13166,” says White.

“The Clinton order discouraged assimilation of legal immigrants by mandating that the federal government and its agencies provide expensive translation services in any foreign language. These additional translation costs have run into billions of dollars since 2001. But this ends now,” she says.

“The United States has never had an official, national language since its founding,” White continues. “Under the Trump order, federal agencies can still provide services and documentation in other languages, but English must be stressed since current law requires U.S. citizens to be proficient in English. This latest poll indicates that a significant majority of voters of all backgrounds and political persuasions support English as our official language of government operations.”  

“Every American can be proud of their national origin, race, native language and customs. But without reinforcing the English tie that unite us, multilingual diversity could well become the undoing of our country,” White concludes.

ProEnglish for decades has been the nation’s leading organization for establishing English as the official language of all federal government operations. www.proenglish.org