WASHINGTON — Despite a recession that has disproportionately affected their community, African-Americans are dramatically more upbeat about their progress in this country than at any time during the past quarter century, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first African-American president is credited for the increased optimism that is reflected in a range of issues, including race relations and expectations for further African- American progress.
“It’s the politics of expectations,” said Ronald Walters, a retired University of Maryland political-science professor. “It’s having an African-American president and the hope that, when all is said and done, he will help (African-Americans). Those of us who have been critical of him for things he hasn’t done in the first year, even we expect he will do something.”
In the survey, 39 percent of African-Americans said “the situation of black people in this country” is better off now than it was five years ago, almost double the 20 percent who said that in 2007.
Even enduring a recession and a jobless recovery that has created a 15.6 percent African- American unemployment rate — and a 49.4 percent jobless rate among African-American males ages 16-19 — hasn’t dampened blacks’ optimism about the future.
Obama’s election also appears to have affected the public’s perception of race relations in the country. Fifty-four percent of African-Americans said Obama’s election has improved race relations, while only 7 percent said it has made relations worse.
The Oct.28-Nov. 20 phone poll of 2,884 adults, including 812 African-Americans, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
