Race, Ethnicity & Politics

The public has generally been supportive of affirmative action programs, but is decidedly opposed to the idea of providing preferential treatment to minorities.

A year and a half after a lengthy, often rancorous debate over immigration reform filled the chambers of a stalemated Congress, the issue appears to have receded in importance among one of the groups most affected by it--Latinos.

Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one in the 2008 presidential election, 67% versus 31%.

The Hispanic vote in Florida has long been an anomaly. It has tended to be heavily Republican, while the Latino vote in the rest of the country has tended to be heavily Democratic.

Half (50%) of all Latinos say that the situation of Latinos in this country is worse now than it was a year ago.

Hispanic registered voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain by 66% to 23%, according to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Latinos.

Are critics like Jesse Jackson more -- or less -- in touch with the African American public? A look at what survey data tell us about black attitudes and priorities.

Summary of Findings A solid majority of Americans say it as at least somewhat important to the country that an African American has won the presidential nomination of a major political party. But there are wide political and racial divisions over the significance of Barack Obama’s history-making achievement. Overall, 36% of the public says it […]

More than 3.9 million people reside in Puerto Rico and 2.8 million of them are eligible to vote.

Summary of Findings Barack Obama’s March 18th speech on race and politics is arguably the biggest political event of the campaign so far. Fully 85% of Americans say they heard at least a little about Obama’s speech, and most (54%) say they heard a lot about it. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama has been far and […]