(Week of 3/17/2012) The public favors individual effort to move African-Americans up the economic scale. In the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, 60% believe that blacks should follow the example of other immigrants and work their way up the economic ladder, with no special help.
The comparison with white immigrant groups evokes very different responses from white and black Americans. Most blacks disagree.
The racial gap is also seen in other items about success and race. Nearly half of blacks believe African-Americans have gotten less than they deserved in the last few years; only 15% of whites agree. (In fact, whites are over twice as likely as blacks to believe Obama Administration policies have been very favorable to African-Americans.) Half of white Americans say if blacks tried harder, they would be as well-off as whites. But only 18% of African-Americans agree.
