A majority of the public

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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While a majority of US states maintain the death penalty, and a majority of the public still supports it, the numbers of prisoners being killed and the amount of public support for executions continues to shrink, while the numbers of states giving up the penalty is increasing, fast.

Is “a majority of the public” correct?

Thanks!

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Yes, ‘the majority of public’ is commonly used expression.

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Thanks, Torsten!

It should be “the majority of the public”, not “a majority…”, right?

I was under the impression that the noun following “majority of” should be a countable noun. For example, “the majority of the students are poor”.

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Torsten, we consider majority to be a word capable of being used as plural as well as singular. It depends on how you think of it - individually of its constitutents or collectively as a single block. In the former case, we use it as plural.
For example:

  1. The majority of public were rasing different questions on the reforms proposed by the government.
  2. The majority of public was in favour of the reforms proposed by the government.
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