BAMPAC is pleased to present the following initial findings from our national survey of African Americans across the United States. BAMPAC commissioned The Tarrance Group to conduct a telephone survey of 800 African American adults throughout the country. A random sample of this type is likely to yield a margin of error of +3.5%. Responses to the survey were gathered May 17-19, 1999.

Our initial impression is that our survey has yielded fantastic results. While our expectations of the study were guarded, the level of support for many of BAMPAC’s issues and positions were higher than most of us ever expected. This summary will go over some the key points that we saw as noteworthy.

Issues that effect children and community are the top concerns of black Americans. Most want their elected officials to deal with the issues of public education (20%), fighting crime and drugs (16%) and restoring strong moral values (12%). Issues like Social Security, Medicare, jobs and unemployment are not significantly strong among blacks. This is intriguing since conventional wisdom might suggest that blacks are more concerned about government programs and services than value-laden issues.

In a startling and revealing result, nearly half (47%) of black Americans think the Democratic Party has taken them for granted. These individuals are more likely to include older women at home, those from a traditional family, independents, and those concerned about the crime problem.

But more than two-thirds (72%) of think that the Republicans have ignored the African American community. African Americans themselves say that Republicans could have a chance at capturing the black vote if they would do things like;

Improving their stance toward minorities (15%)
Helping people more (9%)
Showing more interest in the community (5%)

As might be expected for an organization that is less than ten years old, BAMPAC has a long way to go in terms of informing Black Americans about its mission and stances on the issues. In response to an open-ended question, only about 14% were able to identify the organization correctly. But, after hearing a series of BAMPAC’s statements and positions on issues, two-thirds (67%) of Black Americans were left with a positive impression of the organization. In fact, only 10% were left with a negative impression. Not surprisingly, the organization’s stance on education was the most important in leaving people with such a positive impression.

We conducted two series of issue and position evaluations of BAMPAC. In the first series, we used a ten-point scale for African Americans to voice their level of favorable or unfavorable feelings toward BAMPAC based on specific statements. From this, we learned that black Americans were very favorable toward BAMPAC’s position on crime, abortion, school choice and affirmative action. These issues provided the basis for the group’s two-third positive response in the first evaluation.

Several messages were evaluated for their ability to move Black Americans toward a more positive impression of BAMPAC. Both in terms of overall reaction to the message and the ability of this message to move people, the following message was far more influential than any other; "Promoting strong more values, like personal responsibility and honesty, are the best chance we have of improving most of our society’s problems."

It should come as no surprise that the messages that Black Americans are most likely to be influenced by the education issue. For this reason, we would recommend that the education issue remain central to the BAMPAC message as individuals begin to gain an initial impression of the organization.

After hearing these additional messages about BAMPAC, we are able to leave three-quarters (75%) of the respondents with a positive impression of the organization. But it is important to point out that most of the "movement," with regard to impressions of BAMPAC, has less to do with making the respondent feel positive toward BAMPAC but more to do with solidifying opinion. Therefore, perhaps our most important objective is to solidify a positive impression after individuals first hear about BAMPAC.

It should also be noted that one of the most positive responses throughout the survey is on the issue of abortion. Eighty-two percent (82%) of respondents report that they favor parental consent for a minor seeking an abortion. In addition, nearly half (48%) of Black Americans hold a pro-life position on abortion as 35% think "abortion should be illegal except for cases such as rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger" and 13% think "abortion should be illegal and prohibited under all circumstances."

This message pyramid is a simple means to map the direction of conversation about BAMPAC. As with our questionnaires, communicating with and to people should travel on a path of broad to narrow. Using "big picture" language based on "values" and "faith" are an excellent means to attract positive attention from African Americans – the survey proves they respond well. We would like to see a effort to reinforce those positive attitudes by engaging in a discussion that delves into such issues as education and community involvement to solve their concerns about the economy, public safety and children.