Table 1. Initial and Reluctant Respondents: A Demographic Profile
(Based on unweighted data)
Amenable Respondents Reluctant Respondents
(No refusal) (Refusal conversion)
(N=917) (N=542)
% %
Sex
Male 45 41
Female 55 59
Race
White 79 83
Black 13 9
Other 8 8
Age
Under 30 20 18
30-49 44 40
50-64 16 20
65+ 17 17
Education
College Grad. 28 29
Some College 24 25
High School Grad. 37 37
Less than H.S. Grad 11 9
Family Income
$75,000+ 10 14
$50,000-$74,999 14 17
$30,000-$49,999 26 24
$20,000-$29,999 15 12
Less than $20,000 23 20
Region
East 20 19
Midwest 25 26
South 35 37
West 20 18
Community Size
Large City 20 20
Suburb 22 25
Small City/Town 37 36
Rural Area 19 18
Employment Status
Full-Time 55 56
Part-Time 12 8
Not Employed 32 34
Party ID
Republican 26 31
Democrat 33 33
Independent 36 30
Table 2. Demographic and methodological predictors of racial attitudes
Overall opinion Views on role of
of Blacks racial discrimination
Unstd Coeff. (S.E.) Std. Coeff. Unstd Coeff. (S.E.) Std. Coeff.
Female .107 ** (.037) .10 .127 (.080) .05
Age -.000 (.001) -.01 -.003 (.002) -.04
Education .035 ** (.012) .10 .073 ** (.026) .10
Income .000 (.010) .00 .008 (.022) .01
South -.050 (.039) -.04 -.254 ** (.083) -.10
Political ideology .044 * (.020) .07 .172 ** (.043) .13
Reluctant respondent -.122 ** (.047) -.11 -.264 ** (.099) -.11
Black interviewer .055 (.039) .05 .331 ** (.084) .14
Rigorous survey -.044 (.060) -.03 .080 (.126) .02
Constant 2.854 (.113) 1.266 (.241)
Number of cases 931 878
F-statistic 5.38 *** 9.40 ***
Adjusted R-squared .04 .08
* p < or = .05
** p < or = .01
Note: Entries are unstandardized coefficients, standard errors, and standardized coefficients from least squares regression
based on unweighted data. Dependent variable in first equation is overall opinion toward Blacks. Responses range from
1 (“very unfavorable”) to 4 (“very favorable”). Dependent variable in second equation is views concerning the main
reason “many black people can’t get ahead these days” — a forced choice between “racial discrimination” or blacks
themselves are “mostly responsible for their own condition”. Responses range from 1 (believe “very strongly” that
blacks themselves are responsible) to 4 (believe “very strongly” that racial discrimination is to blame). Full question
wording is in Appendix 2.
Response Rates
The following table presents the full disposition of sampled telephone numbers for the Standard and Rigorous surveys:
Standard
Five-Day Rigorous
Non-sample numbers:
Telephone number not in service/
not working/business number/fax number 1297 1020
Households never screened:
No answer/busy/answering machine
Not available/callback 938 185
Households that refused 678 396
Households with no eligible person:
Language barrier/health problem/
No person 18 or older 221 227
Households with eligible person:
Incomplete interviews 42 33
Completed interviews 1000 1201
TOTAL TELEPHONE NUMBERS 4176 3062
