Attitude Tested: What do whites really think about affirmative action?
How They Tested It: Two groups of roughly 150 people are interviewed. To one, the interviewer reads a list of three items -- the federal gasoline tax, the high salaries paid to pro athletes, corporations polluting the environment -- and asks how many of the items upset the respondent. The second group is given the same list plus a fourth item -- black leaders asking for affirmative action -- and also asked how many of the items are upsetting. Since three of the items are exactly the same in the two experiments, the difference in the results from groups one and two is a measure of those who are angered by affirmative action.
Result: The first group reported being angered by two of the listed items; the second group by about 2.5. Thus, about half of all whites say they are angered by black leaders asking government for affirmative action. Liberals are just as likely as conservatives to answer this way.
