Do Blacks and Hispanics Get Along?

While blacks and Hispanics hold broadly favorable views of each other, Hispanics are less likely to say the two groups get along well. At the same time, African Americans are far more likely than Latinos to say blacks are frequently the victims of racial discrimination, according to a recent survey of racial and ethnic attitudes by the Pew Research Center.

The country's two largest and most powerful minority groups also disagree on other issues that strike close to the heart of many blacks and Hispanics, though these differences are generally modest. Notably, blacks are more likely to say the situation for African Americans is worse today than it was five or even 10 years ago. Nearly half of all blacks also say immigrants reduce job opportunities for blacks, while fewer than four-in-10 Hispanics agree.

The current round of Democratic presidential primaries has brought the issue of Hispanic-black relations onto center stage. Overwhelming majorities of blacks have supported Barack Obama, while Hillary Clinton has counted on majority support among Hispanics, coupled with her strong support from whites, to counter Obama's appeal among African American voters.

In the recent Florida Democratic primary, Clinton beat Obama among Hispanics by nearly 2-1 while Obama countered by winning blacks by better than 2-1. This race and ethnicity gap, apparent throughout the 2008 primary season, has led some to ask if the division reflects larger and more troubling tensions between the two groups.

The Pew survey suggests that the answer depends on the question that you ask. On many core issues, majorities or large pluralities of blacks and Hispanics share the same view. At the same time, the poll also pinpoints some areas of disagreement and potential conflict. The telephone survey was taken from Sept. 5 through Oct. 6, 2007 among a nationally-representative sample of 3,086 adults.

Read the full report Do Blacks and Hispanics Get Along? on the Pew Research Center Web site.