U.S. minorities believe more strongly than Whites that young people need a four-year college degree to attain success, a new poll shows. In addition, minorities expressed substantially more belief than Whites in the idea that the U.S. economy will benefit if President Obama’s goal of increasing the proportion of Americans with postsecondary degrees by 2020 is met.
Seventy-percent of Latinos, 61 percent of Asian Americans and 55 percent of African-Americans agreed with the statement that “young people today need a four-year college degree in order to be successful,” compared with 47 percent of Whites, according to a new College Board/National Journal Next America Poll.
Compared to 48 percent of Whites, the poll showed that 76 percent of African-Americans, 68 percent of Latinos and 63 percent of Asian-Americans believe the economy will benefit from meeting Obama’s goal of increasing the proportion of young workers with postsecondary degrees from 40 to 60 percent by 2020.
Released earlier this month, the poll was undertaken as part of the National Journal magazine’s Next America project, which is an exploration of “how changing demography is changing the national agenda,” said Ronald Brownstein, the National Journal editorial director. The National Journal is a Washington-based weekly magazine that reports largely on national politics and emerging political and policy trends.
As a component of the Next America project, the “National Journal/College Board poll provides insight into the views of a changing American population, elevating the importance of higher education and the challenges many African-American and Hispanic students face in earning a degree,” said Stefanie Sanford, the College Board’s Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy, in a statement.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in describing the Next America project at a launch and poll release event in Washington, said the “National Journal is taking a realistic look at who we are, what America will look like, and what we can do to maximize the economic opportunity that will come from the seismic shift we’re seeing.”
