A 2009 survey by Pew Social Demographic Trends found that blacks had far less confidence than whites in their local police in a number of areas, including their treatment of racial groups.

Just 14% of African Americans said they had a great deal of confidence in local police officers to treat blacks and whites equally. More than twice as many whites (38%) had a great deal of confidence in the local police to provide equal treatment. More than three times as many blacks as whites said they had very little confidence in their local police to treat the races equally (34% vs. 9%). Blacks’ confidence in local police to provide equal treatment was little changed from 2007 or 1995.

Yet that survey showed that African Americans had a positive overall assessment of the state of race relations. About three-quarters of African Americans (76%) said blacks and whites got along “very well” or “pretty well.” Majorities of both blacks (60%) and whites (70%) said that the values of the two groups had gotten more similar over the previous 10 years.

And in the wake of Barack Obama’s election as president, there was a sharp rise in perceptions of black progress. Nearly four-in-ten African Americans (39%) said that the “situation of black people in this country” was better than it had been five years earlier.  In 2007, just 20% said the condition of blacks had improved in the previous five years.

Blacks’ concerns over racial discrimination had not decreased, however. More than four-in-ten (43%) African Americans said that there is a lot of discrimination against blacks, compared with just 13% of whites. Whites were more likely to say that Hispanics than blacks faced a lot of discrimination (21% vs. 13%).

Fully 81% of African Americans said “our country needs to continue making changes to give blacks equal rights with whites.” Just 36% of whites agreed, while a majority (54%) said “our country has made the changes needed to give blacks equal rights with whites.”

News Coverage of Blacks

A 2010 study by the Pew Research Center found that African Americans were highly critical of news coverage of blacks. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) said that coverage of blacks was too negative. Just half as many (29%) said coverage was either fair (28%) or too positive (1%).

By contrast, nearly half (48%) of whites said that coverage of blacks was generally fair. Just 31% of whites thought that news coverage of blacks was too negative.

That survey also found that blacks were far more likely than whites to say that the news media devoted too little coverage to race relations. About half of African Americans (51%) said the subject of race relations received too little coverage, compared with just 24% of whites.

However, there were smaller differences between blacks and whites in views of the accuracy of news coverage of race relations. Pluralities of both whites (50%) and blacks (42%) said that coverage of race relations make them out to be worse than they actually are. Smaller percentages said coverage presented race relations as better than they really are (16% of whites, 23% of blacks) or about as they really are (23% of whites, 26% of blacks).

The Martin Case: News Interest and Coverage

The Pew Research Center’s most recent News Interest Index, conducted March 22-25 among 1,003 adults, found that Trayvon Martin’s death was the public’s top news story. African Americans were more than twice as likely as whites to say that this was their top story (52% vs. 20%).

On March 30, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released a report showing the very different ways that cable TV news outlets and talk radio, blogs and Twitter have covered and analyzed the Trayvon Martin story. It found that Twitter interest in the Martin story did not surge until March 17, three weeks after the teenager’s death. (For more, see “How Blogs, Twitter and Mainstream Media Have Handled the Trayvon Martin Case.”)

A comprehensive new survey of racial attitudes finds that a year after Barack Obama’s election, blacks’ assessments about the state of black progress in America have improved more dramatically than at any time in the last quarter century. The poll finds an upbeat set of black views on a wide range of matters, including race relations, local community satisfaction and expectations for future black progress. But at the same time, some views on race show little change. Most blacks still have doubts about the basic racial fairness of American society.

Some of the most notable trends include:

• Nearly twice as many blacks now (39%) than in 2007 (20%) say that the “situation of black people in this country” is better than it had been five years earlier

• A majority of blacks (53%) say that life for blacks in the future will be better than it is now. In 2007, only 44% said things will be better for blacks in the future, while 21% said they will be worse.

• Most blacks join with most whites in saying that the two racial groups have grown more alike in the past decade, both in their standard of living and their core values.

• Recession not withstanding, the number of blacks who rate their personal finances as excellent or good is little changed (32% now, 27% in late 2006). During the same period, ratings among whites dropped significantly – to 35% now, from 52% then.

• Fewer than half (44%) of blacks say they are very satisfied with their community as a place to live, but this figure is higher than it was in 2007, when just 36% of blacks felt this way. Community satisfaction ratings of whites (64%), while higher than those of blacks, have not improved during the past two years.

• A majority of blacks (54%) say they believe Obama’s barrier-breaking election has improved race relations in America. A third of whites (32%) agree, while 45% say his election has made no difference to race relations.

Despite the upbeat findings from blacks on many fronts, more than eight-in-ten blacks — compared with just more than a third of whites — say the country needs to make more changes to give blacks equal rights with whites. And most remain skeptical that blacks are treated fairly by the police.

View the complete report at pewsocialtrends.org

As Barack Obama prepares to take office, majorities say the country is losing ground on any number of key issues, particularly economic ones. Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) say the country is falling further behind on the federal budget deficit, far more than said that during the mid-1990s when the deficit was a top-tier policy issue.

Fully 72% say the country is losing ground on the availability of good-paying jobs – up 25 points since February 2007. Nearly as many (69%) say the country is losing ground on the cost of living.

Notably, the only issue where most people see progress being achieved is no doubt related to Obama’s historic election: 53% say the country is making progress on discrimination against minorities, compared with just 15% who say the country is losing ground, and 28% who see little change. During the mid-1990s, far fewer people said progress was being achieved reducing discrimination (40% in 1995, 38% in 1994).

The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 3-7 among 1,489 adults reached on landline phones and cell phones, finds that Republicans and Democrats generally agree that the country is losing ground on the budget deficit and jobs. In addition, majorities of Democrats (59%) and Republicans (54%), as well as 62% of independents, say the country is losing ground in competing with other countries economically.

Yet there are wide partisan differences in views about a number of other issues, including the war in Iraq, the gap between rich and poor and poverty. Nearly four-in-ten Democrats (39%) say the country is losing ground on Iraq compared with just 8% of Republicans.

Seven-in-ten Democrats (70%) say the country is losing ground on the gap between rich and poor; just 42% of Republicans agree. Democrats also are far more likely than Republicans to see the country losing ground on poverty and homelessness.

By contrast, more than six-in-ten Republicans express pessimism about the country’s progress on illegal immigration (62% say we are losing ground) and on moral and ethical standards (68%). Fewer than half of Democrats say the country is losing ground in those areas (42% and 49%, respectively).

Mixed Views of Progress on International Issues

Most Republicans (62%) say the United States is making progress in Iraq, while 26% say things are about the same as they have been and just 8% say the United States is losing ground there. Democrats are more evenly divided, with 41% saying things are about the same, 39% saying the country is losing ground, and just 16% saying progress is being made.

Americans generally express less positive opinions about the war in Afghanistan than they do about the country’s involvement in Iraq. About one-in-five say the country is making progress on the war in Afghanistan (21%), just over four-in-ten say things are the same as they have been (42%), and 31% say the country is losing ground on the war in Afghanistan. Republicans, in particular, are much less optimistic about progress in Afghanistan than in Iraq: 37% say the country is making progress in Afghanistan, compared with 62% who say the same about the war in Iraq. Few Democrats see the country making progress in either conflict (16% Iraq, 10% Afghanistan).

When it comes to dealing with international terrorism, about half of Republicans think the country is making progress (49%), 30% think things are about the same as they have been, and just 20% say the country is losing ground. In contrast, 34% of Democrats say the country is losing ground on terrorism, 37% say things have not changed much, and about a quarter (26%) say the country is making progress.

More Signs of Economic Pessimism

Reflecting the public’s bleak overall assessment of the national economy, large majorities say the country is losing ground on every economic issue asked about. (For more on views of the economy, see “Psychology of Bad Times Fueling Consumer Cutbacks,” Dec. 11, 2008).

Nearly eight-in-ten Americans (79%) say the country is losing ground on the budget deficit; 72% offer the same view about the availability of good-paying jobs; and 69% say the country is losing ground on the cost of living. The proportion saying the country is losing ground on the deficit has increased 15 points since February 2007. Perceptions of job availability also have grown much more negative over that period.

There is no recent trend measure in views of whether the country is making progress or losing ground on the cost of living. Currently, 69% say the country is losing ground in that area, which is higher than during the mid-1990s (61% in 1995, 59% in 1994). Opinions about national progress on the gap between rich and poor have remained relatively stable since February 2007, and are comparable to those measured in 1989.

Americans also express negative views about the country’s ability to compete economically with other countries: 58% say the country is losing ground, while just 8% say it is making progress and 30% say the country’s ability to compete with other countries is about the same as it has been in the past. In March 1994, when Pew last asked about this item, 43% thought the country was losing ground when it came to its ability to compete internationally while about a quarter said it was either making progress (24%) or that things were about the same as they had been (26%).

A solid majority of Americans say it as at least somewhat important to the country that an African American has won the presidential nomination of a major political party. But there are wide political and racial divisions over the significance of Barack Obama’s history-making achievement.

Overall, 36% of the public says it is very important to the country that an African American won a major party’s nomination, while another 27% see this as somewhat important. A third of Americans say it is either not too important (15%) or not at all important (18%) that a black candidate has become a major party nominee.

About half of Democrats (51%) say it is very important to the country that an African American has secured the nomination of a major party; that compares with a third of independents (32%) and just 20% of Republicans. Republicans are evenly divided over the importance of this milestone: while 50% view it as either very or somewhat important, nearly as many (48%) say it is not too important (16%) or not at all important (32%).
Nearly six-in-ten blacks (59%) say the nomination of an African American is very important to the country; just 32% of whites express this view. Nearly four-in-ten whites (37%) believe it is not too important (17%) or not at all important (20%) – roughly three times the percentage of blacks (13% not too, not at all important).

Strong Interest in Campaign News

Public interest in the presidential race increased somewhat with last week’s dramatic events. Nearly four-in-ten (38%) say they followed news about the campaign very closely, up from 30% the previous week. This is the highest level of interest recorded since mid-March. Interest was much higher among Democrats (51% followed very closely) than among Republicans (34%) or independents (27%).

Fully 73% say they heard a lot about Obama winning enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. That news registered more widely than any other campaign development so far. There also was broad interest in Hillary Clinton’s decision late in the week to suspend her campaign and endorse her Democratic rival. More than half of the public (55%) heard a lot about Clinton’s decision; Clinton’s withdrawal from the race was the third most widely heard about campaign story thus far.

By week’s end, Obama was the top newsmaker among the three leading presidential candidates, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s (PEJ) Campaign Coverage Index. Obama was featured prominently in 77% of all campaign news stories while Clinton was featured in 60% of all stories. McCain trailed both Democrats; only 21% of the campaign stories featured the Arizona senator.

Obama was by far the most visible candidate in the news last week. Two-thirds of the public (67%) named Obama as the candidate they’ve been hearing the most about in the news in the past week or so. Roughly one-in-five (22%) named Clinton and just 2% named McCain. While Obama has remained the most visible candidate for 13 straight weeks, he has not dominated Clinton and McCain to this extent since mid-March when he gave his speech on race and politics.

Steady Interest in Gas Prices

The national news media focused heavily on the presidential race last week – devoting 50% of its overall coverage to the campaign, according to PEJ. Public interest was split evenly between the campaign and the rising price of gasoline. Two-thirds of the public paid very close attention to news about gas prices last week – unchanged from the previous week and up moderately from early last month. Fully 37% listed gas prices as the single news story they were following more closely than any other last week, roughly equal to the proportion (36%) naming the campaign as their most closely followed story.

One-in-four Americans paid very close attention to reports about the rising unemployment rate, and 3% listed this as their most closely followed news story of the week. There was relatively little interest in the debate in Congress over legislation to combat global warming. Only 13% followed this story very closely and 2% listed this as their top story of the week.

These findings are based on the most recent installment of the weekly News Interest Index, an ongoing project of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The index, building on the Center’s longstanding research into public attentiveness to major news stories, examines news interest as it relates to the news media’s agenda. The weekly survey is conducted in conjunction with The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, which monitors the news reported by major newspaper, television, radio and online news outlets on an ongoing basis. In the most recent week, data relating to news coverage was collected from June 2-8 and survey data measuring public interest in the top news stories of the week was collected June 6-9 from a nationally representative sample of 1,004 adults.

About the News Interest Index

The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events.

This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, an ongoing content analysis of the news. The News Coverage Index catalogues the news from top news organizations across five major sectors of the media: newspapers, network television, cable television, radio and the internet. Each week (from Sunday through Friday) PEJ will compile this data to identify the top stories for the week. The News Interest Index survey will collect data from Friday through Monday to gauge public interest in the most covered stories of the week.

Results for the weekly surveys are based on telephone interviews among a nationwide sample of approximately 1,000 adults, 18 years of age or older, conducted under the direction of ORC (Opinion Research Corporation). For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls, and that results based on subgroups will have larger margins of error.

For more information about the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, go to www.journalism.org.

Barack Obama’s March 18th speech on race and politics is arguably the biggest political event of the campaign so far. Fully 85% of Americans say they heard at least a little about Obama’s speech, and most (54%) say they heard a lot about it.

Not surprisingly, Barack Obama has been far and away the most visible of the presidential candidates over the past week – 70% say they have heard more about him in the news than the other candidates, compared with 15% who cite Hillary Clinton and just 3% who say they have heard the most about John McCain. As recently as three weeks ago, Obama and Clinton were equally visible in the news.

Roughly half of Americans (49%) saw videos of Reverend Wright’s sermons, and roughly the same number (51%) watched Barack Obama’s speech about race and politics last week. Television was the predominant source for video of these news items, however the internet also played a role.

One-in-ten Americans say they saw Obama’s speech online (7% on the internet only, 3% both on TV and the internet). About the same number (12%) report having seen Wright’s sermons online.

The impact of these events on Obama’s overall image appears to be mixed. Three-in-ten Americans (30%) say their opinion of Obama has grown less favorable in recent days, but another 22% say their opinion of him has grown more favorable.

One measurable effect of Obama’s speech on race in America was to increase the visibility of Reverend Wright’s sermons. In the days leading up to Obama’s Tuesday speech, just 31% of Americans had heard a lot about Wright’s sermons. But over the past weekend, 51% reported hearing a lot about them.

[For more analysis of the impact of these events on views of Obama, see the accompanying report, "Obama Weathers the Wright Storm, Clinton Faces Credibility Problem" released March 27, 2008 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.]

Obama Dominates Public Visibility and Campaign Coverage

Throughout the first three months of the year, Obama and Clinton have been far more visible than the other presidential candidates, and this overwhelming focus on the Democratic contest continues. In the current poll, Obama is by far the candidate that the public has been hearing the most about in the news. Fully, 70% have heard more about Obama in the last week than any other candidate. This is consistent with the balance of the press coverage, according to the Campaign Coverage Index conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Last week, Obama was the featured news maker in 72% of all campaign news stories, his highest coverage level this year.

Only 15% said that Sen. Clinton was the candidate they have been hearing the most about. The gap between Obama’s and Clinton’s visibility has grown substantially over the last two weeks from roughly equal visibility in early March, when 38% had been hearing most about Obama, 37% about Clinton. The drop in Clinton’s public visibility is also consistent with the amount of coverage her campaign received in recent weeks. The share of campaign coverage in which Clinton was the featured candidate fell from 60% three weeks ago to 51% in the following week and down to 30% this past week, according to the Campaign Coverage Index conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Though John McCain has sewn up the Republican nomination, he continues to lag far behind Obama and Clinton in public visibility. Only 3% of the public named John McCain as the candidate they heard most about in the news recently. This too is consistent with the findings of the Campaign Coverage Index, which found just 17% of campaign news stories giving a substantial amount of coverage to McCain, compared with 30% for Clinton and 72% for Obama.

Fewer Americans heard about Senator McCain’s visit to Iraq and the Middle East than heard about Obama’s speech or the Rev. Wright videos. Only about one-in-five Americans heard a lot about either McCain’s trip to the Middle East (22%) where he planned to strengthen his foreign policy credentials or his potentially damaging misstatement linking Iran with al Qaeda (17%).

Press Coverage of Obama Seen As Fair

While Americans are hearing a lot from the press about recent events and controversies surrounding the leading major party candidates, public opinion about the tone of campaign coverage has changed very little over the course of the last month. In fact, relatively few criticize the press for bias in coverage either for or against the candidates. Most voters say that the press treatment of each of the three candidates has been fair.

On balance, more Americans believe coverage of Obama has been too easy on him (23%) than say it has been too tough (15%). A substantial number of Republicans (37%) continue to believe that the press is going easy on Obama (down slightly from 42% in early March). Conversely, among Democrats the number who believe that the coverage of Obama has been too tough increased from 7% in early March to 19% now.

For presumptive Republican nominee John McCain more than six-in-ten Americans (62%) say that the press has treated his campaign fairly and fewer than one-in-ten (9%) call the coverage of McCain too tough. Comparable to the other candidates, almost one-in-five (18%) says the press has been too easy on McCain. Partisanship continues to drive views of the tone of coverage. A larger share of Democrats (25%) than Republicans (7%) believe that the press is going too easy on.

Where opinions may have changed over the course of March about the tone of campaign coverage occurs among Democrats and independents who lean Democratic. Among this group, a majority (61%) say the press coverage of Obama has been fair. However, the share of Democrats and Democratic leaners saying that coverage of his campaign has been too tough increased significantly over the last three weeks (11% to 19%) in the aftermath of steady news coverage about controversial remarks by Obama’s former pastor and the Senator’s speech on race and politics in America.

Surging Interest in Troubled U.S. Economy

Public attention to reports about the condition of the U.S. economy reached a 15 year high last week with 45% of the public following this news very closely. This is up from two weeks prior when 38% reported following news about the U.S. economy very closely and substantially higher than last fall when less than three-in-ten followed U.S. economic news very closely. The last time the condition of the U.S. economy drew this much attention was in February 1993 when 49% of the public said they followed economic news very closely.

The big economic news story last week was the buyout of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase with the financial backing of the Federal Reserve. Almost half of the public said that they followed news about the buyout either very closely (21%) or fairly closely (26%), but the story attracted far less interest than the condition of the U.S. economy in general (78% very or fairly closely). Those in the top income tiers paid closer attention to news about the Bear Stearns buyout than did those with lower annual incomes. Among those earning $75,000 annually, 27% reported following this story very closely compared to 17% of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 and 16% of those earning less than $30,000. Income differences do not affect the level of attention paid to the condition of the U.S. economy in general.

Campaign Tops News Interest

One-in Three Americans (34%) paid very close attention to news about the presidential campaign and roughly the same proportion (32%) listed this as their most closely followed story of the week. Republicans and Democrats followed campaign news equally closely last week. Coverage of the campaign well surpassed all other major stories. Campaign coverage accounted for 39% of the newshole and was particularly dominant on cable news television, where the campaign made up three-quarters (73%) of all news.

The Iraq war was the public’s third most closely followed story last week (11% called it their top story). Three-in-ten continue to follow news about the situation in Iraq very closely, generally unchanged from recent surveys. Public interest in the Iraq policy debate, which was back in the news last week largely because of the 5th anniversary of the war, was unchanged from its level in early December. One-in-five (21%) followed the Iraq policy debate very closely and 3% said this was the story they followed most closely. The national news media devoted 3% of its overall coverage to events in Iraq and 5% to the Iraq policy debate.

There was relatively little public interest in violent protests in Tibet against the Chinese government. Overall, just 12% say they paid very close attention to this story, roughly equal to the number who followed the news about pro-democracy protests in Burma last fall (13% followed Burma very closely). Just 4% listed violence in Tibet as their most closely followed story while, for the national news media, stories about China and Tibet were the third biggest news story of the week accounting for 4% of total coverage.

About the News Interest Index

The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events.

This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, an ongoing content analysis of the news. The News Coverage Index catalogues the news from top news organizations across five major sectors of the media: newspapers, network television, cable television, radio and the internet. Each week (from Sunday through Friday) PEJ will compile this data to identify the top stories for the week. The News Interest Index survey will collect data from Friday through Monday to gauge public interest in the most covered stories of the week.

Results for the weekly surveys are based on telephone interviews among a nationwide sample of approximately 1,000 adults, 18 years of age or older, conducted under the direction of ORC (Opinion Research Corporation). For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls, and that results based on subgroups will have larger margins of error.

For more information about the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, go to www.journalism.org.

Read full analysis at Pewresearch.org