Â鶹´«Ã½AV

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Â鶹´«Ã½AV poll addressing minority rights and relations in the United States finds that the nation's two largest minority groups -- blacks and Hispanics -- have markedly different perceptions of their quality of life in certain respects. According to the June 11-17 Â鶹´«Ã½AV survey, the two groups express similar levels of satisfaction with their housing, health, education and opportunities to succeed in life. Blacks, however, are less satisfied with their family life, personal safety, jobs, and their community as a place in which to live. Also, blacks are much more likely than Hispanics to consider race discrimination in employment to be a problem.

Percentage "Very Satisfied" With Life Dimension

Despite these concerns, the overall assessment from blacks about their lives is positive. Close to nine in 10 blacks as well as Hispanics say they are either very or somewhat satisfied with their lives, while only 12% are dissatisfied. Looking just at the percentage "very satisfied," however, blacks are less positive, with only 42% very satisfied, compared to 49% of Hispanics and 54% of non-Hispanic whites.

The vast majority of blacks and Hispanics say they are at least somewhat satisfied with every specific dimension of their personal lives measured in the new survey. The distinctions between the two groups are seen in the generally lower rate of high satisfaction among blacks.

A majority of blacks are very satisfied with only two of the nine areas measured: their family life (59% are very satisfied) and their personal health. By contrast, a majority of Hispanics are very satisfied with four items: their community and their job -- in addition to family life and health. The non-Hispanic white majority adds housing and physical safety to the list of areas it is highly satisfied with, leaving only three about which whites are less content: their opportunities to succeed, their education and their finances.

Hispanics Don't Share Blacks' Concern About Job Discrimination

The largest differences between blacks and Hispanics in the new survey are seen in attitudes related to employment. Among Hispanics who currently work full or part time, 51% say they are very satisfied with their job or the work they do, compared to only 36% of employed blacks who feel this way -- a 15-point gap.

Even more dramatic is the difference in the two groups' perceptions of race discrimination in the job market or workplace: only 18% of blacks believe that racial minorities have job opportunities equal to those of whites while 79% disagree. By contrast, 46% of all Hispanics -- not far from the 53% recorded among non-Hispanic whites -- perceive that there are equal job opportunities, while 51% disagree.

The poll did not find this same difference between blacks and Hispanics in terms of their personal experiences with discrimination. About two-thirds of Hispanics (64%) say they occasionally feel discriminated against in public life or employment because of their Hispanic ethnicity, compared to three-quarters (76%) of blacks who feel discriminated against because of their race. The gap is similar in terms of the percentage who often feel subject to discrimination (that is, on a monthly or more frequent basis): 39% of blacks and 31% of Hispanics.

Only One-Third of Blacks Seem Free of Crime Worries

Another important distinction between blacks and other groups in society is blacks' lower satisfaction with their safety from physical harm or violence. Only 33% of blacks say they are very satisfied with their level of safety. Another 45% are somewhat satisfied while 10% are somewhat dissatisfied and 11% are very dissatisfied. By contrast, 47% of Hispanics and 59% of non-Hispanic whites are very satisfied with their safety.

A related concern for blacks is their community, with only 42% of blacks feeling very satisfied with their community as a place to live compared to 53% of Hispanics and 61% of whites. Blacks living in urban areas are the least content, with only 36% feeling very satisfied, compared to 48% living in suburban and rural areas. This gap in satisfaction is not evident between urban and non-urban Hispanics.

No Group Raves About Its Finances

A majority of blacks indicate strong contentment with their family life, but the percentage is substantially smaller than that among Hispanics: 59% for blacks vs. 73% for Hispanics.

Blacks and Hispanics are fairly similar in their responses to questions about housing, personal health, education, their financial situation and the opportunities they feel they've had to succeed in life. The last three elicit the lowest levels of satisfaction of all nine items measured, with less than a majority of blacks, Hispanics and whites saying they are very satisfied with each. Only one-quarter of all Americans (26%), including 29% of whites, 23% of Hispanics and 15% of blacks say they are very satisfied with their finances.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,375 adults, 18 years and older, including oversamples of blacks and Hispanics, weighted to their correct proportion in the population. Telephone interviews were conducted from June 11-17, 2001. An additional night of interviewing on June 18 was conducted for the black oversample. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of blacks include interviews with 264 black national adults and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of Hispanics include interviews with 247 national Hispanics (including 59 conducted in Spanish) and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Next we'd like to know how satisfied are you with each of the following aspects of your life -- very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. How satisfied are you with -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Your community as a place to live in

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	58	30	8	4	*
Men	59	29	8	3	1
Women	57	30	8	5	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	61	29	6	4	*
Blacks	42	38	11	8	1
Hispanics	53	31	12	4	*

B. Your current housing

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	63	30	5	2	*
Men	63	32	4	*	1
Women	63	27	7	3	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	66	27	5	2	*
Blacks	41	43	11	5	*
Hispanics	45	36	11	8	*

C. Your education

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	45	42	9	3	1
Men	48	40	9	2	1
Women	44	43	9	3	1
Non-Hispanic Whites	48	40	8	3	1
Blacks	38	44	15	3	0
Hispanics	38	41	13	7	1

D. Your family life

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	69	25	3	2	1
Men	72	25	1	1	1
Women	67	25	4	3	1
Non-Hispanic Whites	72	22	3	2	1
Blacks	59	32	5	3	1
Hispanics	73	21	4	2	0

E. Your financial situation

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	26	51	15	7	1
Men	28	52	15	5	*
Women	25	51	14	10	*
Whites	29	50	14	7	*
Blacks	15	47	20	17	1
Hispanics	23	47	17	13	*

F. Your personal health

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	54	35	6	5	*
Men	57	34	6	3	0
Women	52	35	7	6	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	54	34	7	5	*
Blacks	54	35	7	3	1
Hispanics	57	30	8	5	0

G. Your safety from physical harm or violence

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	55	33	7	4	1
Men	61	31	5	2	1
Women	50	35	9	6	*
Non-Hispanic Whites	59	31	7	3	*
Blacks	33	45	10	11	1
Hispanics	47	32	12	8	1

H. The opportunities you have had to succeed in life

 

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17
National Adults	48	38	10	3	1
Men	53	36	8	2	1
Women	43	40	11	4	2
Non-Hispanic Whites	49	37	10	3	1
Blacks	40	43	10	6	1
Hispanics	44	36	10	8	2

I. Your job, or the work you do

 

		Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	No opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17^
National Adults		50	39	7	4	0
Men		50	39	6	5	0
Women		50	38	8	4	0
Non-Hispanic Whites		51	37	7	5	0
Blacks		36	47	9	7	1
Hispanics		51	35	7	7	0
^	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULTS: N=646; ±4 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT MEN: N=343; ±6 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN: N=303; ±6 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED WHITES: N=528; ±5 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED BLACKS: N=169; ±9 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED HISPANICS: N=153; ±9 PCT. PTS.

SATISFACTION SUMMARY TABLE (BASED ON "VERY SATISFIED")

2001 Jun 11-17 (sorted by "national adults")	National Adults	(NA) Men	(NA) Women	Non-Hisp. Whites	Blacks	Hispanics
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Family life	69	72	67	72	59	73
Current housing	63	63	63	66	41	45
Community as a place to live in	58	59	57	61	42	53
Safety from physical harm/violence	55	61	50	59	33	47
Personal health	54	57	52	54	54	57
Job/work	50	50	50	51	36	51
Opportunities to succeed in life	48	53	43	49	40	44
Education	45	48	44	48	38	38
Financial situation	26	28	25	29	15	23
(NA) National Adults

Do you feel that racial minorities in this country have equal job opportunities with whites, or not?

 

		Yes	No	No opinion
		%	%	%
2001 Jun 12-17 ^
National Adults		48	50	2
Men		51	48	1
Women		45	52	3
Whites		53	45	2
Blacks		18	79	3
Hispanics		46	51	3
^	BASED ON NATIONAL ADULTS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=849; ±4 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON NATIONAL ADULT MEN INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=402; ±5 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=447; ±5 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON WHITES INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=692; ±4 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON BLACKS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=241; ±7 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON HISPANICS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=212; ±7 PCT. PTS.

Next we have a question about your own experiences as [a black/an Hispanic]. How often do you feel discriminated against in public life or employment because you are [black/Hispanic] -- [ROTATED: every day, every week, about once a month, a few times a year, less than once a year, (or) never]?

 

		Every day	Every week	About once a month	A few times a year	Less than once a year	Never	No opinion
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 11-17 ^
All Blacks		17	7	15	21	16	23	1
Black men		15	9	17	23	17	18	1
Black women		19	5	12	20	15	28	1
All Hispanics		6	12	13	21	12	35	1
Hispanic men		8	3	15	26	9	39	*
Hispanic women		5	20	10	16	15	32	2
^	BASED ON BLACK ADULTS: N=260; ±7 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON BLACK MEN: N=113; ±10 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON BLACK WOMEN: N=147; ±9 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON HISPANIC ADULTS: N=247; ±7 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON HISPANIC MEN: N=125; ±10 PCT. PTS.
	BASED ON HISPANIC WOMEN: N=122; ±10 PCT. PTS.

* Less than 0.5%