Latest GMI Poll Reveals Many African-Americans Are Not Open to Interracial Marriage

Seattle, Wash. (PRWEB) February 22, 2008—The latest GMI Poll, powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), reveals that even though most African-Americans know an interracial couple, less than half (49 percent) said they would consider marrying someone outside of their race.

GMI interviewed a representative sample of 1,285 African-Americans in December 2007. The interviews were conducted online using GMI’s panel and data collection software.

“In African-American culture, interracial marriage can be tricky. Acceptance is high, but there are minefields to overcome,” says Lawrence Martin Johnson Pratt, host of the Technocolorradioshow, a technology information FM radio show for African-Americans in New York (90.3FM WHCR). “In-laws are an issue for any couple, but African-American in-laws can be particularly critical. Racial loyalty is an issue, but generally it’s one the individual has to overcome. Many black women have an internalized stereotypical belief that non African-American men would not find them attractive. The good news is, in the last 20 years, racism, as a reason to shy away from interracial marriage, has become less and less of an issue.”

Survey data indicates that African-American males are entering into interracial relationships much more frequently. Those surveyed said in interracial relationships, the male is African-American 67 percent of the time vs. 33 percent for women.

We also asked respondents if they thought life as an interracial couple was more difficult:

* 12 percent said it was easier than they thought.

* 24 percent said it was harder than they thought.

* 38 percent said it was no different than they thought.

* 26 percent said they didn’t know.

The data on interracial relationships was part of The African-American Culture Study, which examined the following additional topics:

* The items most important to African-American social status

* Economics in African-American communities, and the reasons why there are few African-American business owners

* African-American reading habits and opinions on the publishing industry

* Condoleezza Rice and her perceived role in the African-American community

Full results for the African-American Culture Study can be found on www.theafricanamericanvoice.com.

Methodology

In December 2007, the African-American Culture Study polled 1,285 African-Americans from GMI’s proprietary panel. Interviews were conducted online using GMI’s data collection platform. The representative sample of African-Americans from whom GMI collected these data was based on the 2003 and 2004 census data detailing the demographic breakdown of the African-American population across the U.S. The census data was then used to create quota cells in age, gender and region. The final data was weighted to equalize the female to male ratio, since more females completed the survey than males in a ratio of 3-2. For further information about the African-American Culture Study methodology, please contact GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) at info@gmi-mr.com.

[Editor’s Note: “GMI Poll: African-American Culture Study” can be downloaded as a PDF file here.]