Should Eleanor Roosevelt replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill?

March 26, 2015, 7:17 PM GMT+0

Eleanor Roosevelt is the top pick if a woman is to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill

Andrew Jackson's 87-year run (replacing Grover Cleveland) as the face of the $20 bill may be drawing to a close, as campaigners seek to replace his face with the face of a woman from American history. Andrew Jackson's portrait on the $20 bill has long been controversial, in light of the role he played in the forced relocation of native American tribes under the Indian Removal Act, a removal popularly known as the Trail of Tears. Furthermore, the choice of Andrew Jackson for a $20 bill is ironic given his noted opposition to both paper money and national banking. Notwithstanding the attempt to introduce the Sacagawea dollar coin in 1999 no women appear on any commonly used American money.

YouGov's latest research shows that Americans are divided on whether or not Andrew Jackson's face should be removed from the $20, with people narrowly tending to oppose (41%) rather than support (35%) replacing Andrew Jackson with a woman. Support for replacing Jackson is much higher among Democrats (56%) than among independents (29%) or Republicans (16%). Women (37%) are not particularly more likely than men (32%) to support replacing Andrew Jackson's portrait with a woman's.

The large majority of Americans (61%) don't think that the lack of a woman on paper money is either fair or unfair, while 19% say it is unfair and 11% think that it's fair that no women currently appear on paper money.

After asking whether a woman should replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 everyone was also asked which woman should be put on the $20 in his place. The wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and prominent activist for racial and social equality Eleanor Roosevelt was the top pick, followed closely by early feminist Susan B. Anthony (who appeared on a dollar coin in the 1970s and 80s) and Rosa Parks, whose refusal to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery sparked a bus boycott and many achievements of the civil rights movement.

Other popular choices included Betsy Ross, the woman who stitched together the first American flag, and Harriet Tubman, who played a crucial role in helping runaway slaves escape to Canada and free northern states.

Full poll results can be found here and topline results and margin of error here.