A new poll from CNN released this morning shows that a majority of Americans do not believe the Confederate flag is racist, but see it as a symbol of Southern pride.
Of respondents, 57% think the flag is a symbol of Southern pride, which CNN reports is on par with the 59% who gave the same response in the year 2000.
When accounting for race, education, and location though, views on the flag were split.
Among African-Americans, 72% see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism, just 25% of whites agree. In the South, the racial divide is even broader. While 75% of Southern whites describe the flag as a symbol of pride and 18% call it a symbol of racism, those figures are almost exactly reversed among Southern African-Americans, with just 11% seeing it as a sign of pride and 75% viewing it as a symbol of racism.
Among whites, there's a sharp divide by education, and those with more formal education are less apt to see the flag as a symbol of pride. Among whites with a college degree, 51% say it's a symbol of pride, 41% one of racism. Among those whites who do not have a college degree, 73% say it's a sign of Southern pride, 18% racism.
The poll also asked respondents about their views on removing the Confederate flag from government property, sales of the flag from private companies, and state flags that feature it within their design.
The poll was conducted by phone between June 26-28, and interviewed 1,017 adult Americans with a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Here are the full results from the CNN poll.