Black Ohioans Want More Opportunity, Survey Finds

CLEVELAND — The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) released the results of its Black Ohio Survey this week. The first-of-its-kind survey examines a variety of hot-button political issues, and day-to-day life, from the perspective of black Ohioans.

Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents said they do not feel hardworking black Ohioans have a chance to improve their life. Slightly less than half of the survey respondents (46 percent) said they had been discriminated against in the past 12 months. Skin color, hair type, and facial features were among the most common catalysts for racism, the respondents said.

Black Ohioans ranked crime and narcotics as the two largest social order problems facing the state's residents. Health care and roads were the most important public programs for the community, according to the survey results.

An overwhelming majority of black Ohioans (75 percent) said they want strict environmental laws to improve quality of life. Survey respondents also said they value protecting abortion rights for women, and providing taxpayer money to a mix of public and private schools.

The entire survey results can be found online.

State Rep. Stephanie Howse, a Democrat from Cleveland and president of the OLBC, thanked the survey's partners and said the gathered information would inform her caucus' political decisions in coming months.

“The results of this survey will help us as legislators better do our job to serve the 1.7 million black Ohioans and the unique challenges they face in their communities,” said Howse. “The results of the survey are not necessarily surprising. We hear often from our constituents the frustration that they work hard, yet still can’t get ahead. Of course the results of the survey confirm there is a social order problem in Ohio because nowhere is that more pronounced than in some of our black communities.”

The survey was conducted by the Center for Marketing and Opinion Research in December 2019 and January 2020. A random sample of 1,500 black Ohioans were surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.