Slavery and discrimination make it hard for Blacks to advance

Agreement that generations of slavery and discrimination created conditions that make it difficult for Blacks to work their way out of the lower class; the ANES wording is slightly different in some years.

AI-matched An AI model grouped these questions and mapped their answers onto shared categories, and a second AI review checked and corrected the grouping and mapping. No person has checked it: compare the question wordings and the answer mapping below before reading the lines against each other.

Latest: 16% answered “Neither agree nor disagree” in ANES, 2024.

Percentages ofpeople who answered everyone asked

All answers over time

Disagree strongly18%

Disagree somewhat17%

Neither agree nor disagree16%

Agree somewhat25%

Agree strongly24%

Shares in 2024

Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).

Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each column is one survey wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.

Share answering

Agree strongly Agree somewhat Neither agree nor disagree Disagree somewhat Disagree strongly

Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).

Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each point is one survey wave at the middle of its field period. Lines from different surveys are never spliced together.

Subgroupsall answers lines

“Neither agree nor disagree” by ideology

Groups differ from everyone by 13 points on average across all answers, in ANES.

Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).

“Neither agree nor disagree” by race & ethnicity

Groups differ from everyone by 8 points on average across all answers, in ANES.

Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).

Subgroup charts are picked automatically. Of every breakdown in the data (party, ideology, age, sex, race, education, income, region, religion, and community type), these two put their groups furthest from everyone’s answers: the gap is averaged across all answer categories and waves, with each group weighted by its share of respondents. Party and ideology count as one choice, so the second chart shows a different kind of split. Groups with an effective sample under 50 in a wave are left out of that wave, and changes run from each group’s first wave to its last.

Questions in this trend

Line	Question	Match	How answers map
ANES	Conditions make it difficult for Blacks to succeed 1986,1990,1994: In past studies we have asked people why they think white people seem to get more of the good things in life in America– such as better jobs and more money–than black people do. These are some of the reasons given by both blacks and whites. Please tell me whether you agree or disagree with each reason as to why white people seem to get more of the good things in life. (RESPONDENT BOOKLET SHOWN TO R). 1988,1992: Now looking again at [respondent booklet] for your choices, here are several more statements. (RESPONDENT BOOKLET SHOWN TO R). ALL YEARS: ‘Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class.’ Caveat: Cumulative file; introductory framing differs by year	identical	Agree strongly → Agree strongly; Agree somewhat → Agree somewhat; Neither agree nor disagree → Neither agree nor disagree; Disagree somewhat → Disagree somewhat; Disagree strongly → Disagree strongly
CES: Slavery and discrimination make it hard for blacks to advance	Slavery and discrimination make it hard for blacks to advance you agree or disagree with the following statements? [Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class. How much do] Caveat: Online CES survey; same statement and scale	identical	Strongly agree → Agree strongly; Somewhat agree → Agree somewhat; Neither agree nor disagree → Neither agree nor disagree; Somewhat disagree → Disagree somewhat; Strongly disagree → Disagree strongly
CES: Slavery and discrimination make it hard for Blacks to rise	Slavery and discrimination make it hard for Blacks to rise How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? [Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class.] Caveat: Online CES survey; same statement and scale