Poll: Minnesotans think race, gender impact individual success

About 40 percent of Minnesotans believe that being Black, Indigenous or Hispanic makes it harder to succeed, a much higher proportion than say that being either Asian or white impedes success, newly released polling shows.

Forty-five percent of those responding to the “Minds of Minnesota” survey said being white makes it easier to be successful compared to less than 10 percent who said the same about being Black, Indigenous or Hispanic; 12 percent said that being Asian offers an advantage to success.

Minnesotans also perceive a distinct advantage for men as opposed to women, with 2 in 5 indicating that being a woman makes it harder to be successful, and only about 1 in 10 saying women have it easier.

That finding was reversed when Minnesotans were asked about men: Only 7 percent think being a man makes it more difficult to attain success and about half say being a man offers advantages to attaining success.

The survey of 3,399 adults between July and November was paid for by the Center for Economic Inclusion as a part of its effort to track progress on closing racial gaps in employment, income and wealth.

It did not ask Minnesotans to define “success,” nor did it ask people to explain the answers that they gave. But it does provide a window into how different groups of Minnesotans think about the opportunities ascribed to people along lines of race and gender.

In-group versus out-group views

The survey showed Minnesotans perceive more hardship for their groups.

For example, 35 percent of Black Minnesotans say that being Black makes it “a lot harder” to be successful. In comparison, only 16 percent of all non-Black Minnesotans say that being Black makes it “a lot harder” to be successful.

That same comparison is even more stark among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people living in the state. And it is also notable among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Minnesotans as well as Asian and non-Asian Minnesotans.

A similarly small proportion of both white and nonwhite Minnesotans see hardships for whites in attaining success. However, a smaller percentage of whites — 21 percent versus 36 percent — think success is “a lot easier” for whites.

A higher proportion of women than others (men plus a small proportion of respondents identifying as nonbinary or other) indicate that it is harder for women to attain success, and a smaller proportion of males than all others think that men have an easier path to success.

Perceptions fall along party lines

Compared to Minnesota Republicans, much higher proportion of Minnesotans who are Democrats believe that Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian Americans face difficulties due to their race or ethnicity.

For example, 28 percent of Democrats indicate that Asians face hardships in attaining success while only nine percent of Republicans say that is the case. Similarly, the proportion of Democrats reporting hardships for Black, Indigenous and Hispanic Americans is about three times higher than the proportion of Republicans who indicate hardships for these groups.

Female Minnesotans appear to have more empathy for the hardships faced by other groups than do male Minnesotans. For example, 43 percent of women and 32 percent of men indicate that Hispanics face hardships in attaining success.

The same pattern exists when asked about the ease of opportunities for women. Twenty-two percent of Minnesota Republicans indicate that women face hardships, as do 60 percent of Minnesota Democrats.

Republicans are somewhat more likely than Democrats to report hardships for whites (10 percent versus 2 percent) and men (11 percent versus 3 percent).

Editor’s note: Detailed poll results and complete methodology are available in a report prepared by APM Research Lab, MPR News’ sister organization.

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