An interesting trend has emerged over the last few years coming out of the recession; white Americans are becoming more pessimistic, and Latinos and African Americans are becoming more hopeful of the countries future. Between 2008-2010, a divide on the optimism-pessimism line by race began to become apparent, and as of this January, Gallup found that people of color were
twice as likely to think that the nation was in good shape, while the opinion of white respondents continued its downward trajectory. So why is one part of America seeing the glass half full, and the other half empty? It appears that both groups have not experienced the recession and economic difficulties in the same way. For Americans of color, the jobless rate remained relatively stagnant, while more white Americans suffered job loss, making economical difficulties feel more pronounced. That's not to say people of color are better off; they have experience joblessness at a higher level, and for longer, than white people regularly do, making bad look pretty normal in contrast. Matter of fact, the wealth gap between white Americans and Americans of color has been
steadily growing since the recession. Another possible reason for this hopefulness is the election of President Obama; in 2008, blacks reported a higher confidence and faith in government, and approval of Obama among blacks has remained very high since then, while opinion of him among white Americans has remained fairly flat. Latinos, on the other hand, used to see their optimism and economic outlook look very similar to white opinion of the country; however in 2002, Latino's have been diverging, and now their sense of optimism follows more closely to their black countrymen than their white. Why? No one seems sure.
FULL ARTICLE:
NPR, March 2014
