US

On Race Equality, Americans’ Difference In Opinions Are Black And White

REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon)

Rebecca Rainey Contributor
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When it comes to American adults, the differences in opinions of racial equality leave little to no gray area between whites and blacks, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Monday.

The survey revealed that only 8 percent of blacks think the country has made the changes necessary for racial equality and another 43 percent think that the country will not make those necessary changes.

These numbers contrast starkly with the 38 percent of whites who think the country has made the changes to give blacks equal rights.

Eighty-eight percent of blacks say the country needs to continue to make changes in order to reach equality. Only 53 percent of whites shared that sentiment.

Fifty percent of whites say that when dealing with the police blacks are treated less fairly than whites, compared to 84 percent of blacks, according to the report.

On the political spectrum, the perception divides go much deeper.

Forty-one percent of whites say too much attention is paid to race and racial issues in the United States and 63 percent of white Republicans believe that President Barack Obama made race relations worse in the country.

But, about half of African-Americans believe Obama has made progress towards ameliorating race relations.

The poll also showed that many blacks and whites don’t agree on the reasons why blacks may have a harder time getting ahead than whites.

Two-thirds or more of blacks say that racial discrimination, lower quality of schools and lack of jobs attribute to the difficulty of getting ahead.

While half of whites say that in addition to lower quality of schools, family instability and lack of good role models are the reasons why blacks aren’t getting ahead.

Overall the data shows that across the board, 71 percent of blacks say they have experienced discrimination and one-in-ten say they experience discrimination on a daily basis.

When it comes to perception day to day living and quality of life, there are also differences between the races.

Four-in-ten blacks say race has made it difficult for them to succeed in life and only 34 percent of blacks are satisfied with the quality of life in their communities.

But 75 percent of white Republicans believe that race has made no difference in their success in life and almost half of all whites are happy with the quality of life in their communities.