Zogby International and Hispanic Heritage Foundation Announce Research Findings on the Subject of Diversity During a Public Policy Panel Discussion Hosted by ExxonMobil

Business Wire, Oct 9, 2008

Key Findings: With Elections Looming, Only 31% of Hispanics/Latinos and 26% of African-Americans Believe Their Elected Officials Correctly Represent their Background; a Majority of likely voters Don't Believe It's Important to Live, Work or Attend School in a Diverse Environment; and Only 35% of likely voters Believe Hispanics/Latinos will Have a Positive Impact as the Largest Minority Group

WASHINGTON -- In partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), Zogby International released the findings of an interactive survey of more than 4,700 likely American voters on issues of diversity, including: (1) diversity in the community, (2) in the workplace, (3) in personal life, (4) in government, (5) the importance of diversity and (6) diversity in future generations.

A panel discussion followed the presentation of the Zogby report as part of a 2008 Public Policy Panel: Defining Diversity Today and Tomorrow hosted by ExxonMobil. The panel discussion led into the LOFT (Latinos on Fast Track) Leadership Lunch for 150 emerging Latino professionals, companies looking to diversify their workforce, and community leaders. The lunch featured a keynote address by CSI Miami Star, Actor Adam Rodriguez, Scrubs Star, Actress Judy Reyes, and was hosted by MTV VJ Carlos Santos.

"I applaud Zogby for taking America's temperature about the importance of diversity which creates a credible platform for dialog," said Antonio Tijerino, HHF President and CEO. "The finding that reinforced our collective mission was that only about one-third of those surveyed believe Latinos will have a positive impact on our country. That is a perception which needs to change and I'm grateful to ExxonMobil and the other sponsors for their leadership in addressing the issue by promoting the accomplishments of our young leaders and working to provide top Latino talent with the support and opportunity to make a positive impact in the classroom, community and workforce."

The research found that a wide majority believe it is important for the government to represent the different backgrounds of individuals in the community (70%) and that diversity is important for American businesses to be competitive (68%). When asked about the importance of working in a diverse environment or attending a diverse school the majority of respondents say that the issue is not important to them. In both instances, the majority of Latino/Hispanic and the majority of African-American respondents believe that diversity is important.

With the elections as a backdrop, only 42 percent of respondents believe their elected officials correctly represent their background, including only a third of Hispanics/Latinos (31%) and a quarter of African-Americans (26%).

Looking into the future, most respondents (82%) see their communities as becoming more diverse and nearly two-thirds (64%) believe that diversity will help the well-being of the United States. However, nearly half of the respondents (48%) do not believe more should be done to promote diversity with more than a third (37%) believing more should be done.

Overall, a majority of respondents surveyed by Zogby report having some exposure to diversity. The majority said they live in a racially diverse neighborhood (55%), a religiously diverse neighborhood (60%), have a close friend of another race (62%), or have at least one friend that is of a different ethnicity (51%). While most participants believe it is important to socially interact with people of another race (60%) - a majority of respondents do not believe it is important to live, work or attend school in a diverse environment.

"We find that Americans overwhelmingly feel comfortable with people of different backgrounds. They expect to have an ever-increasing diverse population and recognize its importance, but there does not appear to be any real consensus on the need to promote or shape the impact of that diversity on our country," said John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International.

"What is clear is that the diversity of our population will have a powerful effect on American life, especially in the upcoming elections. This is a historic year, specifically for the Hispanic American vote in terms of numbers and impact. Hispanics/Latinos are certainly among the pivotal voters in all the battleground states for the presidential race."

Other key findings include:

* Respondents are divided over whether Hispanics/Latinos will have a positive impact (35%) or negative impact (26%) as the largest minority group in the United States.

* More than two-in-three respondents (68%) believe that the words race and ethnicity have two different meanings with 29% believing that the two words have the same meaning. There is no significant variation by subgroup.

* The plurality of respondents see the terms Hispanic and Latino as neither describing only race (8%) nor only ethnicity (28%), but rather as a convenient way of describing people from Latin America (43%).

* There is little agreement over the definition of the term 'people of color.' While a third of whites (35%) and Hispanic/Latinos (34%) believe the term refers to African-Americans, a third of African-Americans (31%) believe the term refers to non-Anglos.