New Data on Approval of Black-White Marriages

Normally the entries on this blog touch on all that touch-feely relationship stuff. Today we're taking a  divergence to highlight the findings of a recent Gallup poll on interracial marriage.

The latest findings (which you can read about here, also the source for this graph) show that 86% of Americans now approve of black-white marriage.

In 1958 when Gallup first asked this question (though worded slightly differently, "between white and colored people"), only 4% of Americans were comfortable with relationships that crossed racial lines. So the current numbers are a sign of significant growth. Just the same, I don't know whether to feel thankful that 86% of the population is now behaving reasonably, or horrified at the 14% still struggling to come to grips with a diverse landscape.

Gallup has broken down the numbers further, showing that blacks are more approving of black-white relationships than whites. College education increases likelihood of approval. Those who are politically independent (89%) are slightly more approving than Democrats (88%), and significantly more approving than Republicans (77%). And for the youngest adults, disapproval is only 3%.