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

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

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

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

:rofl:

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

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

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

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.

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

n/t

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

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

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.

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 ...

... 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.

:eyes:

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

:puke:

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

... 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:

sending to Karen. :rofl:

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:

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

Including Odin, of course. ;-)

:rofl: