Racial Attidudes Survey

WASHINGTON POST/KAISER/HARVARD RACIAL ATTITUDES SURVEY

Results are from a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,709 adults – including an oversample of minority groups – conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University March 8 – April 22. The total sample included 779 whites, 323 African Americans, 315 Hispanics and 254 Asians, and the margin of sampling error for each group is plus or minus four, six, seven and nine percentage points respectively. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Fieldwork was conducted by ICR of Media, Pa.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? (Interviewer: Get answer then ask: "Would that be Strongly (Approve/Disapprove) or Somewhat (Approve/Disapprove)?")

		----------------APPROVE-----------------						----------DISAPPROVE-------------
		NET		Strongly		Somewhat		NET	Somewhat		Strongly	Don’t know
Total	58		32		26		27		11	16		15
White	65		39		27		22		9	13		12
African American	29		6		23		49		19	30		22
Hispanic	49		26		23		29		12	18		21
Asian	51		19		32		35		20	15		14

A. ECONOMY/PERSONAL FINANCES

We’re interested in learning how people are getting along financially these days.

3. Would you describe the state of your own personal finances these days as excellent, good, not so good, or poor?

	---------EXCELLENT/GOOD----------			-----NOT SO GOOD/POOR-----
	NET	Excellent	Good	NET	Not so good	Poor	Don’t know
Total	69	11	57	31	21	10	1
White	75	13	62	24	17	8	1
African American	49	5	44	51	34	17	1
Hispanic	53	7	46	47	32	15	*
Asian	64	6	58	35	28	7	1

2. When they grow up, do you expect your children or children from families like yours to enjoy a higher or lower standard of living than your generation, or do you think it will be about the same?

	Higher	Lower	About the same	Don’t know
Total	50	10	37	3
White	46	11	41	3
African American	61	11	25	3
Hispanic	60	8	29	2
Asian	60	4	35	1

C. MINORITIES

6. Do you feel that (READ ITEMS) have more, less, or about the same opportunities in life as whites have?

a. African Americans

	More opportunity	Less opportunity	About the same	Don’t know
Total	11	35	51	2
White	13	27	58	2
African American	1	74	23	2
Hispanic	8	46	44	2
Asian	10	44	39	7

b. Hispanic Americans

	More opportunity	Less opportunity	About the same	Don’t know
Total	10	37	49	3
White	11	32	54	2
African American	6	61	28	5
Hispanic	6	45	47	2
Asian	5	44	42	9

c. Asian Americans

	More opportunity	Less opportunity	About the same	Don’t know
Total	14	18	63	4
White	13	14	70	4
African American	15	38	39	8
Hispanic	18	24	55	3
Asian	7	34	53	5

7. Now please tell me how much discrimination there is against each of these groups in our society today. How about (READ ITEM)? Would you say there is a lot of discrimination, some, only a little, or none at all?

a. Women

	--A LOT/SOME DISCRIMINATION-			ONLY A LITTLE/NO DISCRIMINATION
	NET	A lot	Some	NET	Only a little	None at all	Don’t know
Total	60	14	46	39	27	13	1
White	57	11	46	43	29	14	1
African American	71	25	46	26	22	5	3
Hispanic	71	19	52	27	17	11	2
Asian	58	13	44	40	23	17	2

b. African Americans

	--A LOT/SOME DISCRIMINATION-			ONLY A LITTLE/NO DISCRIMINATION
	NET	A lot	Some	NET	Only a little	None at all	Don’t know
Total	74	25	49	23	16	7	3
White	71	20	51	26	17	8	3
African American	86	48	39	11	9	2	3
Hispanic	79	31	48	18	12	6	3
Asian	74	24	50	24	15	9	2

c. Hispanic Americans

	--A LOT/SOME DISCRIMINATION-			ONLY A LITTLE/NO DISCRIMINATION
	NET	A lot	Some	NET	Only a little	None at all	Don’t know
Total	66	19	47	31	23	8	3
White	64	15	49	33	24	9	3
African American	73	35	38	22	18	4	5
Hispanic	78	28	50	20	16	5	1
Asian	65	13	52	31	20	11	3

d. Asian Americans

	--A LOT/SOME DISCRIMINATION-			ONLY A LITTLE/NO DISCRIMINATION
	NET	A lot	Some	NET	Only a little	None at all	Don’t know
Total	55	8	46	41	29	12	5
White	54	6	47	41	29	12	5
African American	60	14	46	35	29	6	5
Hispanic	60	17	43	37	26	11	3
Asian	61	9	52	38	25	14	1

e. White Americans

	--A LOT/SOME DISCRIMINATION-			ONLY A LITTLE/NO DISCRIMINATION
	NET	A lot	Some	NET	Only a little	None at all	Don’t know
Total	43	8	35	55	29	26	2
White	46	9	38	52	30	22	1
African American	33	8	25	65	34	31	2
Hispanic	37	8	30	60	21	39	2
Asian	36	4	32	62	21	41	2

8. Now I’d like to ask you how the nation’s population is divided among White Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Just your best guess--What percentage of the United States population (READ ITEMS)?

(IF RESPONDENT IS STRUGGLING OR IS VERY HESITANT SKIP IMMEDIATELY TO INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE Q.9)

	--------------------------------------MEANS------------------------------------------
	White	African American	Hispanic American	Asian American
4/01 Total	55.7	30.2	24.6	16.7
White	55.0	29.0	22.7	15.4
African American	59.7	37.1	28.4	21.0
Hispanic	55.6	32.5	34.8	21.8
Asian	54.1	26.3	24.8	16.8
Correct 2001 census data	69	12	13	4

9. Thinking specifically about African Americans, do you think the average African American is better off, worse off, or just about as well off as the average white person in terms of (READ FIRST ITEM)? Is that a lot better/worse off or just a little? What about in terms of (INSERT NEXT ITEM). Do you think the average African American is better off, worse off, or just about as well off as the average white person?

a. Income

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	7	2	5	58	37	21	33	2
White	4	2	3	57	39	18	38	1
African American	9	3	7	73	31	42	15	2
Hispanic	14	3	11	54	32	22	29	3
Asian	16	6	10	59	40	19	21	4
1995 Total*	3	2	1	62	36	26	32	3
White 1995*	3	2	1	56	36	20	38	3
Black 1995*	4	2	2	84	28	56	11	1
Hispanic 1995*	4	2	2	71	39	32	22	3
Asian 1995*	3	1	2	78	32	46	17	1

b. Access to health care

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	11	6	6	38	22	16	46	4
White	11	6	5	35	23	12	50	4
African American	9	4	4	61	25	36	26	5
Hispanic	16	7	9	37	20	16	44	4
Asian	14	6	8	43	23	20	37	6
1995 Total*	13	7	6	34	18	16	47	6
White 1995*	14	7	7	30	18	12	50	6
Black 1995*	6	3	3	65	21	44	26	2
Hispanic 1995*	10	4	6	34	13	21	47	9
Asian 1995*	10	5	5	40	26	14	44	5

c. Education

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	10	4	6	49	31	18	39	2
White	7	3	5	49	33	16	42	2
African American	11	5	6	59	29	31	26	4
Hispanic	14	5	9	46	30	16	38	2
Asian	13	3	9	49	28	21	35	3
1995 Total*	8	5	3	46	25	21	43	2
White 1995*	7	4	3	41	25	16	49	2
Black 1995*	5	2	3	71	25	46	24	2
Hispanic 1995*	9	7	2	56	28	28	31	4
Asian 1995*	5	2	3	59	22	37	33	2

d. The types of jobs they have

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
Total	8	2	5	51	31	19	39	2
White	6	1	4	49	33	15	44	2
African American	9	4	4	67	26	42	23	1
Hispanic	13	5	8	51	30	21	32	4
Asian	12	2	9	52	31	21	33	3

10. Thinking specifically about Hispanic Americans, do you think the average Hispanic American is better off, worse off, or just about as well off as the average white person in terms of (READ FIRST ITEM)? Is that a lot better/worse off or just a little? What about in terms of (INSERT NEXT ITEM). Do you think the average Hispanic American is better off, worse off, or just about as well off as the average white person?

a. Income

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	6	2	4	67	37	30	25	2
White	5	2	3	68	40	28	26	1
African American	7	1	6	69	26	43	20	3
Hispanic	11	3	8	60	32	28	27	1
Asian	16	7	9	67	41	25	14	4
1995 Total*	5	2	3	66	32	34	26	4
White 1995*	3	1	2	63	34	29	29	4
Black 1995*	5	3	2	76	19	57	16	2
Hispanic 1995*	7	3	4	74	33	41	20	0
Asian 1995*	12	1	11	67	32	35	15	6

b. Access to health care

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	8	5	3	48	27	22	37	6
White	6	5	2	46	26	19	42	6
African American	8	2	6	64	27	37	22	6
Hispanic	15	7	8	50	28	21	33	2
Asian	15	8	7	52	29	23	27	5
1995 Total*	14	9	5	46	22	24	35	6
White 1995*	14	10	4	42	21	21	37	7
Black 1995*	10	5	5	63	22	41	21	6
Hispanic 1995*	12	6	6	53	33	20	33	1
Asian 1995*	10	4	6	53	24	29	29	8

c. Education

	-----BETTER OFF-----			------WORSE OFF-----
	NET	A lot	A little	NET	A little	A lot	Just about as well off as the average white person	Don’t know
4/01 Total	7	3	4	58	36	22	33	3
White	5	2	3	58	38	20	34	2
African American	7	1	6	65	28	37	23	6
Hispanic	13