Poll: Blacks, Hispanics harder hit by downturn, but more confident about economy

As The Washington Post reported over Presidents Day weekend, blacks and Hispanics were more likely to feel harder hit by the economic downturn than whites, but also more optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy.

The poll from the Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard reported, among other findings, the following: 

— When it came to economic issues, whites were far more likely to be most worried about the federal deficit than blacks or Hispanics (27 percent to 5 percent to 9 percent, respectively.) On the flip side, blacks (36 percent) and Hispanics (37 percent) were much more likely to be most concerned with the job market than whites (20 percent).

— Whites also were more apt to think the federal government deserved a lot of the blame for the country’s economic situation. Comparable numbers from each race believed Washington deserved some of the blame. 

— Blacks and Hispanics were also less likely than whites to say that changes caused by the recession would be permanent, more likely to expect that their family’s finances will improve over the next year and more confident that their children’s standard of living would exceed their own.