Poll Shows Races Still Worlds Apart Attitudes Substantially Different On Housing, Jobs
More than three decades after the civil rights movement was launched, race still divides Americans.
Blacks and whites acknowledge that tolerance has increased, yet pessimistically predict “there will always be a problem.”
According to a new Gallup Poll issued Tuesday on race relations in the United States, “substantial differences” remain between African Americans and whites in many areas, from affirmative action programs to daily living, although 93 percent of whites now say they would vote for a “qualified” black president.
Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, which surveyed 3,036 persons by telephone, reported that differences in perceptions of race relations center on issues of equal opportunity, discrimination and quality of life. Results showed that while 76 percent of whites said blacks are treated equally in jobs, housing, education and daily life, only 46 percent of African Americans agreed.
The poll also found that while 59 percent of blacks want government to improve conditions by increased affirmative action programs, 59 percent of whites take the position that minorities should help themselves.
“White Americans don’t see a major problem,” said Newport, “so they don’t see any need for governmental intervention.”
The Gallup Poll coincided with the release of an American Civil Rights Institute survey showing that a majority of Americans oppose racial preferences in government programs.
The survey of 1,212 voters nationwide found that 82 percent of Americans - about four in five - favor gender-neutral government programs. It showed that eight in 10 African American voters felt race should not be a factor in hiring for government jobs, while three in four said it should not be a factor in admission to college.
However, African Americans were split 43 to 45.8 percent on whether California’s controversial Proposition 209 limiting affirmative action should be overturned.
Ward Connerly, chairman of ACRI, said the ACRI survey showed that there was “strong public support” for a federal version of the California civil rights initiative passed last year.
Both the ACRI and the Gallup polls showed a disparity in the white and African American view of the degree of racial discrimination still existing.
Newport noted that varying perception of the problems emerged as a focal point of the Gallup survey, with blacks not only more negative on the status of race relations, but attributing far higher levels of racial prejudice to whites than is conceded. According to the poll, African Americans remain less satisfied than whites with their lives, although the “satisfaction gap” has closed significantly over recent years, with 74 percent of blacks reporting an improved standard of living, compared to 37 percent in 1963.
A total of 72 percent of whites felt there was no discrimination against blacks in their community, compared to 49 percent of African Americans. Looking back over the past decade, 58 percent of whites felt their quality of life had improved, compared to 33 percent of blacks.
The poll found that the average white American today tends to live, work and send children to school in environments that are mostly or entirely white, while fewer African Americans live in all black neighborhoods, and only a fourth of them send their children to entirely black schools.
In terms of continuing discrimination against African Americans, the largest proportion of complaints came from black males in the 18-34 age group, of whom 45 percent reported experiencing racially based problems during shopping over the 30 days before the poll was taken. In the same group, 32 percent had problems in restaurants, 34 percent had difficulty with police, and 23 percent had problems at work. Those numbers dropped sharply in the over 35 age group, with 25 percent of men citing trouble while shopping, and 19 percent while in restaurants.
However, the poll also indicated positive change on the part of whites in terms of political attitudes, with 93 percent saying they would vote for a qualified black candidate for president, compared to 35 percent in 1958. It also noted that 61 percent of whites now approve of interracial marriages, compared with 4 percent in 1958.