Californians Hold Optimistic View on Future of Race Relations, Survey Finds

A half-century after the Watts riots laid bare deep racial divisions in Los Angeles, nearly two-thirds of California voters say race relations in the state are better than elsewhere in America even as they acknowledge persistent tensions, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll published today.

Most voters think race relations in California are stable or improving, and less than a quarter believe they are getting worse, the survey found. according to the Los Angeles Times. Younger voters are more optimistic than older voters about the future.

After a string of fatal police shootings of black men in South Carolina, Missouri and other states, the poll found 43 percent of California voters think police generally are tougher on blacks than on any other group, up from 33 percent in September.

An overwhelming majority of voters -- of all races -- say blacks and Latinos still face substantial discrimination in California. And nearly half of black voters say they personally experience discrimination at least sometimes, as do more than a quarter of Latinos and Asians, The Times reported.

Nearly three-quarters of voters say race relations are excellent or good in their neighborhoods. But just under half hold that view of California as a whole, and barely a quarter say race relations nationwide are excellent or good, according to the newspaper.

California’s population is 39 percent white, 38 percent Latino, 14 percent Asian, 7 percent black and 2 percent Native American, with some overlap, according to the latest U.S. census figures cited by The Times.

Most of the voters surveyed said their neighborhoods were at least somewhat diverse. Nearly a third said they lived in very diverse areas. Most also said that diversity had a positive influence on their communities.

The telephone survey of 1,504 registered California voters by USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and The Times was taken March 28 through April 7. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points overall, and higher for subgroups.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS: Are race relations largely improved over the last several decades, or does the string of high profile police shootings of black men tell a different story?

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