Public Opinion in the United States

Studies of Race, Religion, Gender, and Issues That Matter

Rita J. Simon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351495660
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Public Opinion in the United States tracks developments in American society since World War II through the lens of public opinion. The authors assess national public opinion poll data from 1945 to 2008, targeting opinions about African Americans, Jews, Muslim Americans, gays and lesbians, immigration, abortion, and affirmative action. The authors consider whether American attitudes have developed faster than Supreme Court decisions in the areas surveyed. They assess how social change is processed by the public, how people responded to the race riots of the 1950s and 1960s, and how the war in Vietnam shaped new perspectives on issues such as race, citizenship rights, and the role of the individual. Each chapter begins by introducing the political, social, or international events that were critical in setting the stage for influencing public opinion in each decade since World War II. The volume provides a unique portrait of American society and how it has changed over the last sixty plus years. The reader will learn whether Americans are more or less prejudiced against blacks, Jews, and Muslims than they were in earlier years; whether their views on immigration, affirmative action, and abortion have changed; and when views have changed, in what direction. Do men and women, rich and poor, more and less educated, secular versus religious share the same views? And if there are differences, what directions do those differences take? Th is work describes American society in 2008 compared to the post-World War II era, and it offers stunning glimpses at the future.

1

Public Opinion toward African-Americans

As of the 2006 census data, African-Americans, at 36.7 million people, comprised 12 percent of the population.

The median age for the black community is 31 years. Four out of five black adults finished high school, compared with only one third in 1970 and 19 percent of black adults twenty-five years and older completed college. In 1970 only 4 percent had completed college. In 2005, 45 percent of black college graduates were married, among those without a high school diploma, 24 percent were married. The distribution of household incomes in black families between 1970 and 2006 is shown below.

The figures below indicate the black median income as a percentage of the white median income for 1976 to 2006.

We note that there has been little change over the past thirty years.

Table 1.1
Black Household Income: 1970 to 2006

Note: Figures are percent of total for that year. Earlier years adjusted to 2006 dollars. Blacks include Hispanic blacks.

Source: U.S. Bureau Census “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006.”

Table 1.2
Black Median Income as a Percentage of the White Median Income from 1976 to 2006

Year	%
2006	61
2000	65
1997	62
1986	56
1976	58

Although blacks make up only 12 percent of the population, they comprise 40 percent of the persons incarcerated in state and federal prisons. In 2005 blacks were about twice as likely as whites to be a victim of a crime.

We turn now to the public opinion data on the attitudes of white Americans toward blacks from 1945 to 2008.

National Poll Data

One of the earliest questions to appear on national polls was:

“In general do you think Negroes are as intelligent as white people; that is, can they learn just as well if they are given the same education (and training) (NORC)?”

Yes%	No%	Don’t Know%
42	48	10

The last time that item appeared on a national survey was twenty-one years later, in 1963. At that time, 76 percent answered “yes.” The same item appeared on national surveys at least four other times over the twenty-one-year period, with results as shown in Table 1.3.

Unfortunately, there is a gap of ten years during a period when some important institutional changes were occurring on this issue (between 1946 and 1956), which makes it difficult to trace the rate of opinion change. We note that in the four years between 1942 and 1946 (that is, during much of World War II), there was an increase of 11 percent. If we assume that opinions changed at about the same rate for the following decade, we would arrive at a figure close to the 77 percent that is reported for 1956. It is clear, however, from the percentages shown that the attitudes of white Americans shifted noticeably in the direction of greater acceptance of an inherent-equality doctrine.

Table 1.3
Percent Saying Negroes Are as Intelligent As Whites (1942–1963) (NORC)

Year	Percent
1942	41
1944	42
1946	52
1956	77
1963	76

The next question we examine asked, “How did the changes in attitudes as manifested by the responses reported in Table 1.3 influence public attitudes in other spheres, especially in the controversy over integrated versus segregated schools?”

On the issue of school desegregation it is possible to trace changes in white attitudes both to the principle of integration and to the degree of acceptance of change in behavior that followed from the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The following item, which was included on at least five national surveys between 1942 and 1965, goes to the matter of principle. The distribution of responses indicates a consistent and steady increase in the percentage of respondents who said they approved of whites and Negroes going to the same school.

“Do you think white students and Negro students should go to the same schools or to separate schools (NORC)?”

A few weeks after the Supreme Court ruled on the illegality of segregated public-school systems, the public was asked whether it approved or disapproved of the Court’s decision. The data in Table 1.5 show that in 1954, the public response was split: 54 percent indicated approval; 41 percent disapproval; and 5 percent said they had no opinion. Between 1954 and 1961, the distribution of responses to this item remained relatively stable. The proportion who indicated approval fluctuated between 54 and 62 percent.¹ The percentages in Table 1.5 also show that support for the Court’s decision matched closely the percentages who supported in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: Public Opinion in the United States: A Mirror of Social Contention and Change
• 1 Public Opinion toward African-Americans
• 2 Public Opinion toward Jews
• 3 Public Opinion toward the Muslim-American Community
• 4 Public Opinion toward Gays and Lesbians
• 5 Public Opinion toward Immigrants
• 6 Public Opinion toward Abortion
• 7 Public Opinion toward Affirmative Action
• 8 The United States between 1945 and 1954: A New World Order with Mounting Challenges and Anxieties
• 9 The United States between 1955 and 1964: Institutionalizing Civil Rights and Cold War Interactions
• 10 The United States between 1965 and 1974: A Decade of Opportunities and Strife
• 11 The United States between 1975 and 1984: Setting the Stage for Ending the Cold War
• 12 The United States between 1985 and 1994: Sunset and Dawn
• 13 The United States between 1995 and 2004: Enemy Found but Not Defined
• 14 The United States between 2005 and 2008: A New Social Movement on the Rise
• 15 Concluding Comments
• Index