The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute yesterday released the results of a study debunking the myth that African Americans overwhelmingly and disproportionately supported Proposition 8.
The study, commissioned by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund in San Francisco, found that the level of support for Prop. 8 among African Americans was “nowhere near” the National Election Pool (NEP) figures indicating that 70 percent of California’s African Americans supported the proposition.
The study looked at pre- and post-election polls and conducted a sophisticated analysis of precinct-level voting data from five California counties with the highest African American populations (Alameda (Oakland), Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco).
Based on this, the study concluded that the level of African American support for Proposition 8 was in the range of 57-59 percent. Its precinct-level analysis also found that many precincts with few black voters supported Proposition 8 at levels just as high or higher than those with many black voters.
The 57-59 percent figure — while higher than white and Asian American voters — is largely explained by the higher rates of African American religious service attendance: 57 percent of African Americans attend religious services at least once a week, compared to 42 percent of whites and 40 percent of Asian Americans.
Read the entire press release here. You can also download a PDF of the study on the site.