Exposure to Diversity Adds Value to College Degree, Poll Shows

By Alexandra Vollman, INSIGHT into Diversity

Results from a recent Gallup-Purdue Index reveal that interacting with people from diverse backgrounds increases the perceived value of a college degree.

Released on Tuesday, the findings represent another installment of results based on the 2015 Gallup-Purdue Index’s survey or more than 30,000 college graduates from across the country.

Read the story here.

• Graduates Exposed to Diversity Believe Degree More Valuable (Gallup)

How Equal Is American Opportunity? Survey Shows Attitudes Vary By Race

By Brakkton Booker, NPR

A new survey shows a majority of Americans, regardless of race, agree that race relations have worsened nationally in the past year — but on questions of equality, opinions were split between white and African-American respondents.

According to a PBS Newshour/Marist Poll, a racial divide still persists on how Americans view a variety of issues, including whether blacks and whites have equal opportunities of getting hired for a job, receiving a quality education and earning equal pay for equal work

Read the story here.

Obama Is Nudging Views on Race, a Survey Finds

The New York Times
April 28, 2009

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Barack Obama’s presidency seems to be altering the public perception of race relations in the United States. Two-thirds of Americans now say race relations are generally good, and the percentage of blacks who say so has doubled since last July, according to the latest New York Times/ CBS News poll.
Despite that, half of blacks still say whites have a better chance of getting ahead in American society, the poll found. Black Americans remain among the president’s staunchest supporters; 70 percent of black respondents now say the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 34 percent of whites.
The poll found broad support for Mr. Obama’s approach on a variety of issues, including one of the most contentious: whether Congress should investigate the harsh interrogation tactics authorized by George W. Bush. Sixty-two percent of Americans share Mr. Obama’s view that hearings are unnecessary.
Americans seem to have high hopes for the president; 72 percent said they were optimistic about the next four years. By and large, Americans expect him to make significant progress in health care, energy and immigration policy, issues central to his ambitious domestic agenda.
But the optimism is tempered by a feeling of resignation about two of the most difficult challenges he faces: reviving the economy and ending United States military involvement in Iraq. Most Americans say Mr. Obama has begun to make progress on both fronts, but many do not expect either the recession or the war to be over by the end of his term.
It is not unusual for new presidents to enjoy substantial public support at this point in their tenure. But Mr. Obama’s 68 percent job approval rating is higher than that of any recent president at the 100-day mark. Mr. Bush had the approval of 56 percent of the public at this juncture.
But while Americans clearly have faith in Mr. Obama, the poll revealed something of a disconnect between what the public thinks the president has already accomplished and what it expects him to achieve.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/politics/28poll.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Poll Shows Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative Should Pass In Colorado

KETV.COM

OMAHA, Neb. -- A new poll indicates that a measure on Colorado ballots to end affirmative action will pass by a wide margin.
A similar measure will be on the Nebraska ballot on Nov. 4.
A telephone poll of about 1,000 likely voters taken in October by Quinnipiac University showed the affirmative action question would pass 63 percent to 21 percent.
The measure would bar the state from considering race or gender in any spending or decisions, including college admissions. Similar measures have been passed in California, Michigan and Washington state.
The poll was conducted Oct. 8-12 and has a margin of error of 3 percent.
http://www.ketv.com/news/17723050/detail.html?rss=oma&psp=news

Poll shows gap between blacks and whites over racial discrimination

Yahoo News
By CHARLES BABBINGTON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the nation's birth, Americans have discussed race and avoided it, organized neighborhoods and political movements around it, and used it to divide and hurt people even as relations have improved dramatically since the days of slavery, Reconstruction and legal segregation.
Now, in what could be a historic year for a black presidential candidate, a new Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between whites and blacks. It shows that a substantial portion of white Americans still harbor negative feelings toward blacks. It shows that blacks and whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence blacks have in politics.
One result is that Barack Obama's path to the presidency is steeper than it would be if he were white.
Until now, social scientists have not closely examined racial sentiments on a nationwide scale at a moment when race is central to choosing the next president. The poll, which featured a large sample of Americans — more than 2,200 — and sophisticated survey techniques rarely used in media surveys, reflected the complexity, change and occasional contradictions of race relations.
More whites apply positive attributes to blacks than negative ones, and blacks are even more generous in their descriptions of whites. Racial prejudice is lower among college-educated whites living outside the South. And many whites who think most blacks are somewhat lazy, violent or boastful are willing or even eager to vote for Obama over Republican John McCain, who is white.
The poll, however, shows that blacks and whites see racial discrimination in starkly different terms. When asked "how much discrimination against blacks" exists, 10 percent of whites said "a lot" and 45 percent said "some."
Among blacks, 57 percent said "a lot" and all but a fraction of the rest said "some."
Asked how much of America's existing racial tension is created by blacks, more than one-third of white respondents said "most" or "all," and 9 percent said "not much." Only 3 percent of blacks said "most" or "all," while half said "not much at all."
Nearly three-fourths of blacks said white people have too much influence in American politics. Only 12 percent of whites agreed. Almost three times as many blacks as whites said blacks have too little influence. [ To read the complete story, go to: http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-race-in-america;_ylt=AmLbC7oTeEEaTPaN7zje456s0NUE ]