Pew Poll: 83% of Americans Now Think Interracial Dating is Okay

[BurtWorm]

Atrios wonders if this is a good or bad thing, and after looking at the numbers, I have to wonder too. 16% of baby boomers *disagree* that it's okay?! :wtf:

http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=285

83% - Approve Interracial Dating

More than eight-in-ten Americans (83%) now agree that "it's all right for blacks and whites to date," reflecting the most dramatic change among the racial attitudes tested in Pew polls--as recently as 1987, the public was divided virtually down the middle on the issue, with 48% approving of blacks and whites dating and 46% disapproving. Age is an important factor in attitudes toward interracial dating. In this regard, Pew surveys since 1987 have documented two complementary trends: Each new generation is more tolerant than the one that precedes it. At the same time, members of each generation have become increasingly tolerant as it ages. Together, these trends help explain the increase in expressions of tolerance toward interracial dating in recent decades. Nearly two-thirds of all Americans born before 1946 (65%) say it is acceptable for whites to date blacks. In contrast, this tolerant view of interracial dating is shared by more than eight-in-ten Baby Boomers (84%) and members of Generation X (87%), who were born between 1965 and 1976. Among younger people there is even broader acceptance of interracial dating: 94% of those born since 1977 say it is all right for blacks and whites to date. There have also been striking changes since the late 1980s in how people of different races view black-white dating. In 1987-88, fewer than half of whites (44%) said that interracial dating was acceptable; that number has nearly doubled (to 81%) in the current survey. Two decades ago, about three-quarters of blacks (74%) felt interracial dating was acceptable. Today, nearly all African Americans (97%) believe that interracial dating is acceptable.

Approve Interracial Dating

[NightWatcher]

1. I cant wait till we are all nice and tan

racism will be harder to keep up when we all look nice and brown.

[tularetom]

4. In 500 years we'll all be asian

I can't wait. I'll be really good at math and shit.

[MidwestTransplant]

17. Video games too!

[Maat]

19. HeeHee.

:rofl:

My ten-year-old certainly could use a little math acumen; her dad is down there lecturing/working-with-her now.

[Captain Hilts]

13. I like diversity! I don't want everyone to be the same...nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. 30% are still against interracial marriage.

[tridim]

6. The same 30%, again..

They are against everything that makes America "America". Some say that would make them anti-American.

[DemSoccerMom]

24. Yes, and this is the SAME 30 per cent who STILL support Bush. n/t

[trotsky]

3. Yeah, my first thought was ONLY 83%?

I mean I guess that's loads better than it used to be, but still...

[notadmblnd]

5. Ahhhh. I remember my mother bemoaning.... "WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK?"

And my reply, "When other people pay my mortgage, then I'll give a damn about what the think." When she found out about me and my husband. She learned a lot over the next 20 years and probably grieves his passing every bit as much as I do.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. LOL! That was a neat response.

In fact, that's a good response to anyone that questions what a person wants to do. (as long as it's legal). :)

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I wonder why did the poll only ask about black/white?

n/t

[BurtWorm]

8. I'm only guessing: Because they had a baseline to compare it to.

For most of the last century, people thought only two races lived in the US. :eyes:

[depakid]

10. What a misleading conclusion

"Americans" will vary substantially on this question by region....

[BootinUp]

11. I remember

when my then fiancee and I were contemplating relocating from So Cal to Charlotte NC so I could accept a promotion at a new company location. The VP over our division called me into his office (this was 1987) to warn me about living in the deep south in an interracial relationship/marriage. (My wife is black). I told him I was stubborn about my rights and this concern would not stop me or make me change my mind to accept the job. Anyways, we had very few problems there, developed some good friendships. But these numbers do not surprise me, people hide their prejudices most of the time.

[Maat]

20. Thanks for the story, and I mean that.

I agree - people hide their prejudices, AND, in light of my experience with certain relatives, "You think that you know a person, but you don't." I never dreamed that my in-laws would drop everything, move to the Midwest, and become Southern Baptists who rail against the Muslims. Maybe I never knew them at all. I used to have such respect ...

[BlooInBloo]

12. Yah, but it was asked in the most innocuous way possible....

... Ask the question in the form "Would you be completely comfortable with your daughter dating a black man?", and you'll get a radically different result.

[TahitiNut]

14. Well, I know that I have always sought the approval of others when I dated someone.

:eyes:

Hell, I was concerned with getting the gal to agree ... little did I know I had to get others to agree.

:puke:

[jaysunb]

15. One would have thought that by your age

you'd have known the rules....:rofl: :hi:

[TahitiNut]

18. Well, that probably explains some of the looks I've gotten.

... and I always thought being called a "n_____-lover" was a compliment on my big heart, healthy libido, and good taste.

:rofl: :rofl: :pals: :hi:

[jaysunb]

25. heheh...

sending to Karen. :rofl:

[KamaAina]

16. "I think it's all right for blacks and whites to date each other"

as long as they get a permission slip from their parents, like they have to do at Bob Jones U. :sarcasm:

So, basically, 17 percent of Americans are completely unreconstructed racists? ye gods! :eyes:

[Odin2005]

21. There are very few of us Gen-Yers that give a damb about the issue.

As far as we are concerned a date a a date, race doesn't matter, as that chart shows.

[BurtWorm]

22. Praise the gods for you guys!

Including Odin, of course. ;-)

[Odin2005]

23. LOL!

:rofl: