Blacks and Whites Differ About Treatment of Blacks in America Today

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- With the theme "Speaking Truth to Power," the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) plans to use its upcoming annual convention, being held in New Orleans July 7-13, to address the challenges it sees facing "communities of color" nationwide. Some of these challenges are evident in a recent Gallup poll focusing on minority rights and relations.

The nationwide survey, conducted June 11-18, included larger-than-normal samples of blacks and Hispanics in order to study the views of these groups more closely than is ordinarily possible in a nationwide survey. On Tuesday, July 10 in Washington, D.C., The Gallup Organization will be releasing an expanded analysis of the state of race relations in the United States today as perceived by the people, including a new update of the Social Audit of Race Relations Between Black and White Americans. Details will be posted on gallup.com on Wednesday, July 11.

A review of the June 11-18 survey's results underscores first and foremost that a significant perceptual gap continues between the way whites view the situation for blacks in American society today and the way blacks themselves view it.

Six of 10 blacks are dissatisfied with the way people of their own race are treated by society, including 32% who are very dissatisfied and another 28% who are somewhat dissatisfied. Only 39% of blacks nationwide are satisfied, including just 8% who are very satisfied.

Contrast this with the views of white Americans. Almost two-thirds of whites -- 64% -- say they are personally satisfied with the way blacks are treated in society, while only 34% are dissatisfied.

Blacks' appraisal of their current situation in U.S. society is just slightly more negative than Hispanics' assessment of their own treatment: 45% of Hispanics are satisfied with the way Hispanics are treated in society and 54% are dissatisfied.

There is, on the other hand, no difference between whites' perceptions of Hispanics' situation in society and whites' perceptions of blacks' situation. Sixty-four percent of whites say they are satisfied with the way Hispanics are treated -- the exact percentage of whites who say they are satisfied with the way blacks are treated.

In short, the majority of whites apparently feel that the treatment of blacks and Hispanics in American society today is acceptable, while the majority of both of these latter two groups disagree.

Society's Treatment of Own Group

June 11-18, 2001

Blacks' Satisfaction With Life Lags Behind That of Whites

The overall assessment from blacks about their personal lives is generally positive. Close to nine in 10 blacks say they are either very or somewhat satisfied with their lives, while only 12% are dissatisfied. Significantly, however, only 42% of blacks feel "very" satisfied, compared to 49% of Hispanics and 54% of non-Hispanic whites who are very satisfied with their personal lives.

Percentage "Very Satisfied" With Personal Life

June 11-18, 2001

A follow-up question in the survey asked respondents about their satisfaction with several specific aspects of their lives. The results provide a road map for identifying the nature of the unique challenges facing black Americans today. The areas in which blacks tend to be least satisfied, and are far less satisfied than the white majority, include personal safety, one's job (for those employed), housing and the community in which they live.

Among these, safety from physical harm or violence stands out as the most troublesome experience peculiar to the black community. Only a third of blacks are very satisfied with their lives in this area, compared to 59% of non-Hispanic whites, yielding a 26-point racial gap -- the largest of all dimensions measured.

Divergent Experiences Percentage "Very Satisfied" With Each Dimension

June 11-18, 2001

Areas in which blacks tend to be most satisfied or in which blacks and whites tend to be similar in their experiences include family life, personal health, perceived opportunities to succeed in life, education and personal finances.

Similar Experiences Percentage "Very Satisfied" With Each Dimension

June 11-18, 2001

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,375 adults, 18 years and older, including a main sample of 1,004 national adults and oversamples of blacks and Hispanics. Telephone interviews were conducted from June 11-17, 2001. An additional night of interviewing on June 18 was conducted for the black oversample. For results based on the total sample of 1,004 national adults, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of blacks include interviews with 264 black national adults and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of Hispanics include interviews with 247 Hispanic national adults (including 59 conducted in Spanish) and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Overall, how satisfied are you with your life -- are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?

 

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	53	38	6	2	1
Men	55	36	6	2	1
Women	50	40	7	3	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	54	38	5	3	*
Blacks	42	45	11	1	1
Hispanics	49	39	9	3	*
* Less than 0.5%

Next we'd like to know how satisfied are you with each of the following aspects of your life -- very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. How satisfied are you with -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Your community as a place to live in

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	58	30	8	4	*
Men	59	29	8	3	1
Women	57	30	8	5	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	61	29	6	4	*
Blacks	42	38	11	8	1
Hispanics	53	31	12	4	*

B. Your current housing

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	63	30	5	2	*
Men	63	32	4	*	1
Women	63	27	7	3	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	66	27	5	2	*
Blacks	41	43	11	5	*
Hispanics	45	36	11	8	*

C. Your education

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	45	42	9	3	1
Men	48	40	9	2	1
Women	44	43	9	3	1
Non-Hispanic Whites	48	40	8	3	1
Blacks	38	44	15	3	0
Hispanics	38	41	13	7	1

D. Your family life

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	69	25	3	2	1
Men	72	25	1	1	1
Women	67	25	4	3	1
Non-Hispanic Whites	72	22	3	2	1
Blacks	59	32	5	3	1
Hispanics	73	21	4	2	0

E. Your financial situation

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	26	51	15	7	1
Men	28	52	15	5	*
Women	25	51	14	10	*
Whites	29	50	14	7	*
Blacks	15	47	20	17	1
Hispanics	23	47	17	13	*

F. Your personal health

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	54	35	6	5	*
Men	57	34	6	3	0
Women	52	35	7	6	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	54	34	7	5	*
Blacks	54	35	7	3	1
Hispanics	57	30	8	5	0

G. Your safety from physical harm or violence

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	55	33	7	4	1
Men	61	31	5	2	1
Women	50	35	9	6	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	59	31	7	3	*
Blacks	33	45	10	11	1
Hispanics	47	32	12	8	1

H. The opportunities you have had to succeed in life

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	48	38	10	3	1
Men	53	36	8	2	1
Women	43	40	11	4	2
Non-Hispanic Whites	49	37	10	3	1
Blacks	40	43	10	6	1
Hispanics	44	36	10	8	2

I. Your job, or the work you do

 

		Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17^
National Adults		50	39	7	4	0
Men		50	39	6	5	0
Women		50	38	8	4	0
Non-Hispanic Whites		51	37	7	5	0
Blacks		36	47	9	7	1
Hispanics		51	35	7	7	0
^	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULTS: N=646; ±4 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT MEN: N=343; ±6 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN: N=303; ±6 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED WHITES: N=528; ±5 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED BLACKS: N=169; ±9 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED HISPANICS: N=153; ±9 PCT. PTS.
*	Less than 0.5%

SATISFACTION SUMMARY TABLE (BASED ON "VERY SATISFIED")

2001 Jun 11-17 (sorted by "national adults")	National Adults	(NA) Men	(NA) Women	Non-Hisp. Whites	Blacks	Hispanics
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Family life	69	72	67	72	59	73
Current housing	63	63	63	66	41	45
Community as a place to live in	58	59	57	61	42	53
Safety from physical harm/violence	55	61	50	59	33	47
Personal health	54	57	52	54	54	57
Job/work	50	50	50	51	36	51
Opportunities to succeed in life	48	53	43	49	40	44
Education	45	48	44	48	38	38
Financial situation	26	28	25	29	15	23
(NA) National Adults

Next we'd like to know how you feel about the way various groups in society are treated. For each of the following groups please say whether you are very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied with the way they are treated. How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Immigrants

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	14	40	27	14	5
Men	17	43	25	11	4
Women	12	36	29	17	6
Non-Hispanic Whites	15	43	28	9	5
Blacks	6	29	32	25	8
Hispanics	10	26	27	33	4

B. Women

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	24	46	18	11	1
Men	35	45	13	6	1
Women	13	48	22	15	2
Non-Hispanic Whites	24	49	17	9	1
Blacks	14	33	31	20	2
Hispanics	27	33	18	20	2

C. Blacks

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	20	41	24	13	2
Men	26	40	21	11	2
Women	15	43	26	14	2
Non-Hispanic Whites	20	44	25	9	2
Blacks	8	31	28	32	1
Hispanics	15	35	26	18	6

D. Hispanics

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	16	44	23	12	5
Men	19	48	20	10	3
Women	13	41	27	13	6
Non-Hispanic Whites	17	47	23	9	4
Blacks	7	34	31	20	8
Hispanics	15	30	25	29	1

E. Asians

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	21	48	18	5	8
Men	26	48	15	6	5
Women	16	48	21	5	10
Non-Hispanic Whites	21	50	18	4	7
Blacks	13	40	26	12	9
Hispanics	18	33	22	13	14

SATISFACTION SUMMARY TABLE (BASED ON "VERY/SOMEWHAT SATISFIED")

2001 Jun 11-17 (sorted by "national adults")	National Adults	(NA) Men	(NA) Women	Non-Hispanic Whites	Blacks	Hispanics
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Women	70	80	61	73	47	60
Asians	69	74	64	71	53	51
Blacks	61	66	58	64	39	50
Hispanics	60	67	54	64	41	45
Immigrants	54	60	48	58	35	36
(NA) National Adults