These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
82% Hold Favorable View of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Most Americans continue to hold civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in high regard while holding mixed views about the state of race relations in this country.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 82% of Adults have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of King, including 51% with a Very Favorable view. Just 13% hold an unfavorable view of King who was assassinated in 1968. (To see survey question wording, click here . )
These findings have changed little since January 2007 when Rasmussen Reports first began asking the question in conjunction with the federal holiday set aside to honor King's birthday.
Similarly unchanged are the 22% who regard the King holiday as one of the nation's most important. Twenty-four percent (24%) say it is one of the least important holidays, and 52% rate it as somewhere in between.
Despite the election in 2008 of the nation's first African-American president, just 33% of Adults rate race relations in America today as good or excellent, and only 38% think race relations are getting better. A plurality (43%) doesn't believe that celebrating King's birthday as a national holiday helps improve racial tolerance in this country.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on January 12-13, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Sixteen percent (16%) of Americans plan to do something special to celebrate King's birthday.
The racial divide in views toward the King holiday remains huge.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of African-Americans view the holiday as one of the nation's most important, a view shared by only 15% of whites and 24% of those of other races.
While 48% of blacks plan to do something special today, 82% of whites and 64% of adults of other races do not.
Younger adults tend to hold the holiday in higher regard than their elders.
Americans tend to think their fellow citizens talk too much about race, but most agree that we have yet to achieve a level playing field for all races in this country.
Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters view American society as fair and decent , but only 35% think President Obama shares that view.
On the day Obama began his presidency in January 2009 , nearly half (48%) of Americans believed his inauguration signaled the start of a new era of race relations in the United States.
Christmas and the Fourth of July are the holidays rated most important by Americans. Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Veterans Day are next in terms of importance, with Halloween and St. Patrick's Day generally viewed as the least important.