Despite scenes of protest and statements of disapproval from the leadership of colleges and universities across the country, the majority of Americans are supportive of the recent Supreme Court decision restricting race-based college admissions. 

According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted after the High Court’s decision on Thursday, 52% of Americans believe the ruling against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action policies was the right one. On the other hand, 32% of Americans disapprove of the decision, while 16% are unsure, ABC News reported. 

The poll found that the vast majority of Republicans, 75%, and most independents, 58%, agree with Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett on race-based admissions. Just 26% of Democrats feel the same way, according to the poll. 

Broken down along racial lines, most white people, 60%, think the decision was the right one, while 58% of Asians agree. Among Hispanics, 40% approve and 40% disapprove, and 52% of black people disapprove of the Court’s decision. 

However, the poll found that roughly two-thirds of Americans believe Asian and white students have a “fair chance” of admission into the college of their choice, while that number is 50% for Hispanic students and 47% for black students, according to ABC. 

“Most white Americans believe that people of all racial backgrounds have a fair chance to get into the college of their choice,” the Ipsos page revealing the results said. “Compare that to Black Americans, most of whom believe that Black people have an unfair disadvantage. Similarly, a significant minority of Latino Americans believes people of their ethnic group have an unfair disadvantage.”

On Thursday, the Court ruled that the race-based admissions programs at Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The court voted six to three in the University of North Carolina case and six to two in the Harvard case. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Harvard graduate and former Harvard board member, recused herself from the Harvard case.

Hundreds of universities that consider race in admissions and scholarship decisions will now have to find non-race-related ways to replace affirmative action.

The poll also discovered that more Americans than not support the Supreme Court striking down President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan last week. Forty-five percent of Americans back the Court’s decision, while 40% believe the president had the authority to forgive federally-subsidized student loans. 

Additionally, 43% of Americans believe the Supreme Court made the right call in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which ruled that Lorie Smith could not be forced by state civil rights law to design websites that run counter to her sincerely-held religious beliefs. Forty-two percent of Americans believe that was the wrong decision, and 14% said they didn’t know, the poll found. 

Mairead Elordi contributed to this report.

An orca repeatedly rammed a yacht in a strait between Scotland and Norway last week in yet another aggressive attack by killer whales.

For the last few months, orcas have been slamming into boats in the Strait of Gibraltar off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. But the latest attack came more than 2,000 miles away and is reportedly the first such encounter in northern waters.

“What I felt [was] most frightening was the very loud breathing of the animal,” Dr. Wim Rutten, a retired Dutch physicist and experienced boater who was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway, The Guardian reported. The orca stayed behind the boat “looking for the keel. Then he disappeared … but came back at fast speed, twice or thrice … and circled a bit.

“Maybe he just wanted to play. Or look me in the eyes. Or to get rid of the fishing line,” the 72-year-old doctor said.

The pods of killer whales have been attacking boats in the Strait of Gibraltar this year, with more than 20 incidents in May alone. Last month, the yacht Alboran Champagne was attacked by three orcas, which broke through the hull. The boat flooded, and the crew was forced to abandon ship, which was left adrift to sink.

The Strait of Gibraltar — an 8-mile-wide section corridor separating Europe from Africa — has been a hot spot of activity, with more than 500 interactions between orcas and boats in the past three years. Killer whales can swim up to 35 miles per hour, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and an adult can weigh up to 11 tons and stretch more than 30 feet long.

Several reports say a killer whale called White Gladis is teaching other orcas to attack yachts and has already struck three boats, sinking two of them. “Researchers believe that a female orca called White Gladis is seeking revenge after being traumatised by a collision with a boat, or being trapped in illegal fishing nets,” one report said.

Marine biologist Alfredo López Fernandez told Live Science that White Gladis suffered a “critical moment of agony.” “That traumatized orca is the one that started this behavior of physical contact with the boat,” he said.

“We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives,” López Fernandez added.

But others say younger whales are copying White Gladis’ attacks. “A clearly larger matriarch was definitely around and was almost supervising,” Stephen Bidwell, whose boat was attacked by a pod of orcas, told The Telegraph.

“It’s an experience I will never forget,” Bidwell said. “I kept reminding myself we had a 22-ton boat made of steel, but seeing three of them coming at once, quickly and at pace with their fins out of the water was daunting.” The attack lasted for more than an hour.

One researcher has a theory over the new attack in northern waters. “It’s possible that this ‘fad’ is leapfrogging through the various pods/communities,” Conor Ryan, an independent researcher who advises the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, told the Guardian.

Most recently, the Ocean Race’s Team JAJO’s yacht was attacked last week. Underwater video shot by a crew member shows the killer whales swimming up under the Dutch yacht, then speeding toward the rudders, ramming into them. At one point, a whale bites a rudder. The crew banged on the hull in an attempt to drive the whales off.

“This was a scary moment,” Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said, CNN reported. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”

“We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away.”

Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.