How Americans felt about the university protests against the Vietnam War

By that time, more than 1.5 million young men had already been drafted into the military and nearly 50,000 Americans had died in the war.

In Kent, protests in response to Cambodia’s announcement sparked vandalism and led Republican Governor James Rhodes to deploy National Guard troops. A protest on campus on May 4 was ordered to disperse, and protesters refused and some threw rocks at troops.

Some members of the National Guard then shot at the protesters. Four people died, an event now known as the Kent State Massacre. At the time, however, views on the situation were less favorable to the protesters. A poll conducted after the shootings found that about a third of Americans did not know who was most to blame for the students’ deaths. About 1 in 10 blamed the National Guard.

Most respondents blamed the students.

That response is interesting to consider right now, given the protests at Columbia University in New York (also the site of large protests during the Vietnam War) and other college campuses. Opinions on the protests at universities and elsewhere vary widely, often depending on opinions about the Israeli military operations in Gaza that sparked the demonstrations.

However, looking back at demonstrations during the Vietnam War (protests focused on opposition to a military commitment now widely seen as a mistake), we see widespread hostility toward protesters, particularly college students.

Consider the polls conducted by Harris & Associates in 1968, discovered using the database of historical poll results compiled by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. The Harris Poll asked Americans about their sympathy for various protest tactics and issues, including one that arose in response to Gaza: the traffic blockade.

In October 1968, nearly all respondents to the Harris Poll opposed blocking traffic to protest the Vietnam War. When asked how they would respond, two-thirds of respondents said that if nothing else worked, they might engage in physical assault or armed action over this tactic.

That same survey found that less than half of respondents agreed that “police are wrong to beat unarmed protesters, even when these people are rude and insult them.”

A poll conducted by NORC in April assessed how much support the anti-Vietnam protests had. It found that 7 in 10 Americans thought the country “would be better off if there were less protests and dissatisfaction coming from college campuses.” When asked if the university protests were a “healthy sign” for the United States, 6 in 10 said they were not.

In November 1969, a CBS News poll asked Americans whether they approved of public protests against the war. Three-quarters said no. Six in 10 indicated that they believed the protests “damaged our chances of reaching a peace agreement with North Vietnam.”

In May 1970, Harris asked Americans whether they were more likely to sympathize with or condemn the protests. A third of them sympathized. More than half convicted. More than a third said they thought anti-war protests should be declared illegal.

That August, Harris asked whether Americans agreed with the goal of protests on college campuses and the tactics used to achieve those goals. About two-thirds of those surveyed opposed the goals of the protests. Eight in 10 opposed the tactic.

Another Harris Poll, conducted in October 1970, assessed why Americans thought there was so much discord on college campuses. Most respondents said the war was a major reason, and three-quarters said it was at least a minor cause of the protests. Respondents were more likely to blame radical students, rioters, and university administrators and professors than the war itself.

A poll the following month by Harris found that respondents were more supportive of cracking down on student protesters (65 percent) than withdrawing troops from Vietnam (61 percent).

In April 1971, Gallup asked Americans if they were more likely to agree that political protesters were not dealt with firmly enough or that their rights were not respected. Respondents were twice as likely to say protesters were not being treated firmly enough.

That same month, the ORC asked Americans if they supported the planned anti-war demonstrations. Respondents were twice as likely to oppose the protests as to support them.

A Response Analysis Corporation poll in October found similar opposition when it asked Americans whether they generally approved of young people participating in protests and demonstrations. A Harris Poll, conducted on behalf of Virginia Slims cigarettes that month, asked American women whether they thought picketing or protesting was “undignified and unfeminine.” Six out of 10 said yes.

By the end of March 1973, all American combat troops had been withdrawn from Vietnam. That August, Harris asked Americans whether “student protesters who engage in protest activities” or “university presidents who are lenient on student protesters,” among other groups, did more harm or good. Half of respondents in each case said the students or presidents did more harm than good.

There is no guarantee that history will eventually vindicate the protesters’ positions. But it seems safe to assume that what will be remembered will be the positions, not the protests.