What Americans think about the Miss America pageant

Nearly a third of Americans (32%) think that beauty pageants are bad for women.

Recently, the Miss America pageant has made several changes in order to “usher in a new era of progressiveness,” according to a statement from the organization. And it seems most Americans are supportive of the new changes, but they’re still skeptical about beauty pageants as a whole, according to data from YouGov Omnibus.

One of the major changes the organization has made is creating an all-female leadership team. Former pageant winners Regina Hopper, Marjorie Vincent-Tripp, and Gretchen Carlson are now the leaders for Miss America. But despite the new leadership, many Americans still aren’t sure that beauty pageants are good for women.

Nearly a third of Americans (32%) said that beauty pageants are bad for women, while a slightly larger number of people (39%) said they weren’t sure whether beauty pageants are good or bad for women. Women (37%) were far more likely than men (27%) to think that beauty pageants were bad for women.

The Miss America Organization also recently announced that they will no longer include the swimsuit competition or judge contestants on physical appearance. And a majority of Americans (55%) “strongly support” or “somewhat support” the decision.

Women (47%) were nearly twice as likely as men (24%) to “strongly support” the organization’s decision. Democrats also tended to be more supportive of the decision, with 69% reporting that they supported the change, compared to 41% of Republicans. Notably, the number of Republicans who said they “strongly support” the decision (23%) was nearly equal to the number of Republicans who said they “strongly oppose” the change (24%).

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