Obama Presidency: Influence on Race Relations

February 16, 2009

PRIDE and IDENTITY -- A majority of blacks, 55 percent, say Obama's election makes them "more proud" to be American. Fewer whites but still one in three (32 percent) say the same. And in a related result, a bare majority of blacks, 51 percent, now say they think of themselves first as Americans -- a slight increase from 46 percent in September.

Then, blacks divided evenly, 46-45 percent, on whether their nationality or their race defined them more; now more pick their nationality, by 51-39 percent. (Older blacks, age 50 and up, call themselves Americans first by a 2-1 margin. Those under 50 split.)

As well as among blacks, pride related to Obama's election peaks among Democrats, at 57 percent, compared with 30 percent of independents and 20 percent of Republicans. It's also 19 points higher among those who see his election as progress for all blacks.

Challenges, in any case, remain: About a third of Americans, including whites and blacks alike, say they have at least some feelings of racial prejudice. (That's about the norm in previous polls, back up after dropping just before the election.) Far fewer, though, say those are strong prejudices -- 5 percent overall.

METHODOLOGY -- This ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 19, 2008 Jan. 4, 2009, among a random national sample of 1,146 adults, including an oversample of African Americans, for a total of 236 black respondents. Results for the full sample have a 3-point error margin; for blacks, 6.5 points; and for whites, 3.5 points; click here for a detailed description of sampling error. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Social Science Research Solutions at ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa.