White People’s Friends Are All White, 40 Percent Of The Time [Poll]

Two in five white people in America have only white friends, a new poll shows. Compared to that figure, 75 percent, or three in four, non-white Americans have friends outside their own race. So much for a post-racial, colorblind United States; segregation seems to still be alive and well in the United States.

The new poll was conducted by Reuters following the recent highlighting of racial tensions in the US. After the George Zimmerman trial the fact that race relations in the US may not be perfect became clear. The new poll gives a good display of why that might still be: racial segregation.

With only 60 percent of white Americans with non-white friends, how many have more than one friend of another race? Amazingly, only 20 percent of white people responded to the poll that this was true for them, according to RT.

Latinos report having the most diverse groups of friends, with 90 percent saying they have a non-Latino friend. And nearly half said they were in relationships with non-Latinos as well, the highest rate of any group polled.

Big surprise, responses seemed to change by age group. The poll found that about one-third of Americans under 30 in relationships were involved with someone of a race other than their own. Americans above 30 were only in interracial relationships a tenth of the time.

Another non-surprise is that the group with the lowest number of friends of another race were found to be in the American South. The most diverse were found to be in states along the Pacific coast.

RT points out that in 2004 Gallup conducted a similar poll that found that over 80 percent of Americans had close friends of a race other than their own. That number appears to be down an incredible 20 percent over the last ten years.

Are you surprised at these poll numbers? Do you think they reflect the continuing racial segregation ignored by white people in America?

[Image via ShutterStock]