31% of Young White Adults Show Anti-Black Views

WASHINGTON — For the first time in 40 years, young white adults were found to be more likely to hold anti-black views than their baby boom counterparts, according to a poll released Friday.

But the study for the Anti-Defamation League said Americans over age 50 are more likely to hold anti-black views than any other age group.

The poll for the ADL, the Jewish organization that fights discrimination, found that 31% of whites 18 to 30 years old held views that were very prejudiced against blacks.

Among whites aged 30 to 49, the poll found, 23% of those surveyed were found to be very prejudiced, based on a series of eight questions.

Thirty-five percent of survey respondents over age 50 were classified as being in the group considered most prejudiced.

The finding on the young adults was “the most significant” in the poll, said Charney Bromberg, an ADL official.

He said the younger group’s poor perception of blacks was a reversal of a trend that has been consistent in studies of America for 40 years, where younger, better educated adult groups are less prejudiced than the generation right ahead of them.

“We don’t know” why the younger group showed more prejudice, Bromberg said.

About 1,600 people were interviewed by phone for the survey, conducted in October and November by the Boston-based firm of Marttila & Kiley. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Thirty-eight percent of all while respondents said blacks are more prone to violence than people of other races. Thirty-five percent of whites said they believe blacks generally prefer to accept welfare than to work for a living.

The study also found sharp difference between attitudes of blacks and whites on racism in the workplace. Eighty-three percent of blacks said whites benefit from biased hiring decisions, but only 41% of whites shared that view.