Table 1. Initial and Reluctant Respondents: A Demographic Profile (Based on unweighted data)
Amenable Respondents Reluctant Respondents (No refusal) (Refusal conversion) (N=917) (N=542) % % Sex Male 45 41 Female 55 59
Race White 79 83 Black 13 9 Other 8 8
Age Under 30 20 18 30-49 44 40 50-64 16 20 65+ 17 17
Education College Grad. 28 29 Some College 24 25 High School Grad. 37 37 Less than H.S. Grad 11 9
Family Income $75,000+ 10 14 $50,000-$74,999 14 17 $30,000-$49,999 26 24 $20,000-$29,999 15 12 Less than $20,000 23 20
Region East 20 19 Midwest 25 26 South 35 37 West 20 18
Community Size Large City 20 20 Suburb 22 25 Small City/Town 37 36 Rural Area 19 18
Employment Status Full-Time 55 56 Part-Time 12 8 Not Employed 32 34
Party ID Republican 26 31 Democrat 33 33 Independent 36 30
Table 2. Demographic and methodological predictors of racial attitudes Overall opinion Views on role of of Blacks racial discrimination Unstd Coeff. (S.E.) Std. Coeff. Unstd Coeff. (S.E.) Std. Coeff. Female .107 ** (.037) .10 .127 (.080) .05
Age -.000 (.001) -.01 -.003 (.002) -.04
Education .035 ** (.012) .10 .073 ** (.026) .10
Income .000 (.010) .00 .008 (.022) .01
South -.050 (.039) -.04 -.254 ** (.083) -.10
Political ideology .044 * (.020) .07 .172 ** (.043) .13
Reluctant respondent -.122 ** (.047) -.11 -.264 ** (.099) -.11
Black interviewer .055 (.039) .05 .331 ** (.084) .14
Rigorous survey -.044 (.060) -.03 .080 (.126) .02
Constant 2.854 (.113) 1.266 (.241)
Number of cases 931 878 F-statistic 5.38 *** 9.40 *** Adjusted R-squared .04 .08
* p < or = .05 ** p < or = .01
Note: Entries are unstandardized coefficients, standard errors, and standardized coefficients from least squares regression based on unweighted data. Dependent variable in first equation is overall opinion toward Blacks. Responses range from 1 (“very unfavorable”) to 4 (“very favorable”). Dependent variable in second equation is views concerning the main reason “many black people can’t get ahead these days” — a forced choice between “racial discrimination” or blacks themselves are “mostly responsible for their own condition”. Responses range from 1 (believe “very strongly” that blacks themselves are responsible) to 4 (believe “very strongly” that racial discrimination is to blame). Full question wording is in Appendix 2.
Response Rates The following table presents the full disposition of sampled telephone numbers for the Standard and Rigorous surveys:
Standard Five-Day Rigorous Non-sample numbers: Telephone number not in service/ not working/business number/fax number 1297 1020
Households never screened: No answer/busy/answering machine Not available/callback 938 185
Households that refused 678 396
Households with no eligible person: Language barrier/health problem/ No person 18 or older 221 227
Households with eligible person: Incomplete interviews 42 33 Completed interviews 1000 1201
TOTAL TELEPHONE NUMBERS 4176 3062
