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Before Trump, some states had already ended affirmative action for contractors – here’s what happened

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 690 words · By Ben Rosa
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What to know about Before Trump, some states had already ended affirmative action for contractors – here’s what happened

An economist discusses research on the impact of state-level bans on affirmative action for government contractors. The findings indicate that while such bans reduced workforce size and productivity for minority- and women-owned businesses, they did not significantly increase the rate of business closures.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 12
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

President Donald Trump made headlines early in his second term when he ordered that affirmative action programs be dismantled.

Why it matters

Less noticed was the fact that quite a few states had already eliminated such preferences for contractors, in some cases years ago.

Common ground

This record can now provide some answers as to how businesses owned and operated by underrepresented groups actually fare after these measures take effect.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

An economist discusses research on the impact of state-level bans on affirmative action for government contractors. The findings indicate that while such bans reduced workforce size and productivity for minority- and women-owned businesses, they did not significantly increase the rate of business closures.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/before-trump-some-states-had-already-ended-affirmati…

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 6
verified Verified By Reference 2
schedule Pending 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
check_circle Corroborated 1
verified
Claim 1: “Indiana, whose attorney general pronounced in July 2026 those preferences were unconstitutional.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
No evidence confirms a July 2026 pronouncement by the Indiana Attorney General. Search results for 'July 2026' are irrelevant (Angry Birds) and Wikipedia only covers elections up to 2024.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2020 Indiana Attorney General election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the attorney general of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Democratic primary convention was scheduled for June 13, 2020. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Indiana_Attorney_General_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 Indiana Attorney General election was held on November 5, 2024, to elect the attorney general of the state of Indiana. It coincided with the concurrent presidential election, as well as vario…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Indiana_Attorney_General_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general act…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 2: “Five years after a ban, these businesses had about 11% fewer workers than their counterparts who were not minority- or women-owned.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The 11% reduction figure is found in a single web search result that appears to be the source text, with no independent corroboration from other studies or news outlets.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limb…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_(disambiguation)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Five is the debut studio album by English boy band Five. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 June 1998 and charted at number one the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's only album to do so. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_(Five_album)
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 3: “The U.S. spends about 10% of its gross domestic product on federal and state contractors”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While evidence provides general information about GDP and federal budgets, no specific source confirms the '10% of GDP' figure for federal and state contractors.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States budget comprises the spending and revenues of the U.S. federal government. The budget is the financial representation of the priorities of the government, reflecting historical debat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list the 50 largest U.S. counties and county equivalents by gross domestic product in US$, representing the year at the top of the column, unless otherwise specified.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._counties_by_GDP
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of U.S. states and territories by gross domestic product (GDP). This article presents the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and their nominal GDP at current prices. The data s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 4: “quite a few states had already eliminated such preferences for contractors”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is mentioned in a web search result that appears to be the source text itself ('Before Trump, some states had already ended affirmative action for...'), but no independent second source confirms the specific detail about contractor preferences.
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · The meaning of MULTIPLE is consisting of, including, or involving more than one. How to use multiple in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multiple
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web search NEUTRAL — MULTIPLE definition: 1. very many of the same type, or of different types: 2. a number that can be divided by a smaller…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/multiple
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — A factor is a number that divides another number completely without any remainder, while a multiple is a product that is obtained when one number is multiplied by another number.
https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/multiples/
help
Claim 5: “companies owned by minorities and women were less likely to go under after a ban than other companies.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the claim that minority- and women-owned companies were less likely to go under after a ban.
schedule
Claim 6: “Bans also equated to a 10% decline in the value of companies, regardless of whether they were sold off.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 7: “statewide bans did lead to the equivalent of a roughly 9% drop in long-run productivity.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 8: “These bans also dampened the formation of new businesses, reducing the annual average number of startups by 35 in states with bans.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim about the reduction of startups by 35 is found in the web search result 'Before Trump, some states had already ended affirmative action for...', but no other independent source confirms this specific data point.
info
Claim 9: “Black-owned businesses were the most affected, cutting their workforce by about 19%.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The 19% reduction for Black-owned businesses is mentioned in the same single web search result as claim 5, but not corroborated by other independent sources.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Black is a very common color and is the key color. It is a shade. In painting, however, black pigment is the combination of all colors. It is the opposite of white in both additive and subtractive col…
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Black was one of the most important colors used by ancient Greek artists. In the 6th century BC, they began making black-figure pottery and later red figure pottery, using a highly original technique.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Mar 5, 2024 · Black has a hex code of #000000 and RGB values of (0, 0, 0). But there are many different shades to explore. From jet black to charcoal gray, you can mix and match different colors to cr…
https://creativebooster.net/blogs/colors/shades-of-black-col…
info
Claim 10: “The largest minority- and women-owned businesses also had significant reductions, by roughly 13%.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The 13% reduction for largest minority- and women-owned businesses is found in a single web search result mirroring the claim, without independent corroboration.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The largest minority- and women-owned businesses also had significant reductions, by roughly 13%. These bans also dampened the formation of new businesses, reducing the annual average number of startu…
https://www.miamitimesonline.com/business/before-trump-some-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — SEATTLE — Opponents of affirmative action have defeated a measure in Washington State that would have restored the use of that diversity practice in government agencies, public contracting and state c…
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/affirmative-action-was…
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web search NEUTRAL — White women have become some of affirmative action’s fiercest opponents.
https://www.vox.com/2016/5/25/11682950/fisher-supreme-court-…
info
Claim 11: “I looked at the nine states that had banned affirmative action in contracting as of 2020 – covering 114,000 employers”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific numbers (9 states, 114,000 employers) are found in one web search result that mirrors the claim's phrasing, but no other independent source corroborates these specific statistics.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Georgia ( JOR-jə) is a state in the Southeastern, South Atlantic, and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the northwest, North Carolina and South Carolina to the northeas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(U.S._state)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States Steel Corporation is a Japanese-owned American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and C…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geog…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 12: “President Donald Trump... ordered that affirmative action programs be dismantled.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results explicitly state that President Trump issued executive orders to dismantle affirmative action programs.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald Trump assumed office as the 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025. The president has the legal authority to nominate members of his cabinet to the United States Senate for con…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_cabinet_of_Donald_Trump
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Trump family is a prominent wealthy American family. The best-known member is patriarch Donald Trump, the 45th and current 47th president of the United States (2017–2021, 2025–present). The Trump…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_family
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.