More than half the states have made English their official language, and nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that should be the policy nationwide.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 73% of American Adults think English should be the official language of the United States. Only 18% disagree. {snip}

However, support for English as the official language of the U.S. government has been trending downward in Rasmussen Reports surveys since 2006. Two years ago, 77% supported official English, and the number was 83% as recently as 2014.

When asked more specifically if election ballots and other official government documents should be printed in English only, however, a majority of Americans now approve multilingualism. Forty percent (40%) favor English only, down from 47% two years ago, while 53% think ballots and other documents also should be printed in other languages.

Here, too, support for English-only has declined over the years. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Likely U.S. Voters favored ballots and other government documents only in English in 2006.

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Official English retains majority approval across demographic and political categories. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans think English should be the official language of the United States, as do 64% of Democrats and 70% of those not affiliated with either major party. {snip}

Majorities of whites (74%), blacks (73%) and other minorities (71%) support English as the official national language. Blacks (46%) and other minorities (43%) are actually more likely than whites (38%) to say election ballots and other official government documents should be printed in English only.

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