Do Americans support government efforts to honor Charlie Kirk? What a poll found
Published in News & Features
Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, politicians across the U.S. have advanced efforts to permanently memorialize him, including through coins, statues and official holidays.
Congress designated Oct. 14, 2025, as the National Day of Remembrance for Kirk — who was shot and killed in Utah on Sept. 10 — and two House Republicans introduced legislation that would create commemorative silver dollars bearing his image.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Illinois moved to establish state holidays in Kirk’s honor, while proposals in Arizona and Florida would rename highways after him. And, in Oklahoma, a bill has been put forward that would require all public universities in the state to erect a statue of Kirk.
Most of these efforts, though, are opposed by a majority of Americans, according to a new YouGov poll.
The poll sampled 1,101 U.S. adults Sept. 25-27 and has a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.
Of all proposals, the plan forcing Oklahoma public colleges to erect statues of Kirk faced the most backlash, with 66% opposing it and 18% in approval.
Similarly, 60% said they are against states creating annual holidays for Kirk, while 26% said they favor this. And 58% said they oppose the government minting coins with Kirk’s likeness, while 26% said they support this.
Meanwhile, a slim majority, 51%, said they are against designating Oct. 14, 2025, as a National Day of Remembrance for Kirk. Thirty-four percent said they favor this effort.
The last proposal — to rename parts of state highways after Kirk — was more divisive. Fifty percent of respondents said they opposed it and 34% said they favored it.
And, just one effort to commemorate the conservative activist garnered more support than opposition. A plurality, 47%, said they supported lowering flags to half staff in honor of Kirk — which President Donald Trump ordered be done from Sept. 10-14. Thirty-eight percent said they opposed this.
A major partisan divide emerged on the subject of these proposals.
Democrats and independents telegraphed net negative support for all of them, while Republicans expressed net positive support.
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