There are two polls out today dealing with racial matters - on by Gallup on Americans' perception of how widespread racism is, and a Rasmussen Reports survey on where Americans come down on affirmative action.
USA Today/Gallup, based on data collected between June 5 and July 6, found that Americans believe by 56 percent to 42 percent that racism against blacks is widespread in the U.S. Whites believe that by 51 percent to 46 percent, blacks hold that view 78 percent to 20 percent and Hispanics by 59 percent to 38 percent. Pluralities of all Americans say that discrimination is a major factor in blacks' education and income levels, while a majority say it is a key factor in black prison rates. However, on the question of whether it has a major effect on black life expectancy, those polled say no by 35 percent to 31 percent.
There is a big ethnic divide on this question with blacks calling discrimination a major factor on all these counts by majority ranging from 57 percent to 80 percent, while the only category in which a plurality of whites said it was a major factor was black prison rates. Hispanics by pluralities see it as a major factor in every category except prison rates where 54 percent believe it to be true.
By political affiliation, 67 percent of Democrats see discrimination as a major factor affecting blacks, 55 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans.
Forty-six percent of Americans oppose affirmative action compared to 28 percent who support it, with another 26 percent being unsure, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 30. The same number also believe that affirmative action results in discrimination against white men while 31 percent reject that notion and 22 percent are unsure. All that being said, a large majority - 64 percent - answer "somewhere in between" in terms of whether it has been a success for failure, with 11 percent calling it a success and 22 percent a failure.
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