Americans Fill Out President Obama's Census Form: What is His Race?*

Abstract

ObjectiveWe use nationally representative survey experiments to assess public opinion about how President Obama should have identified himself racially on the 2010 Census.MethodsRespondents were randomly assigned to three conditions—a control, a treatment that described the president's biracial ancestry, and a treatment that combined the biracial ancestry information with a statement that Obama had in fact classified himself as black only. All respondents were then asked how they felt Obama should have filled out his Census form.ResultsA clear majority of Americans in all experimental conditions said that Obama should have identified himself as both black and white.ConclusionThere appears to be suggesting robust acceptance of official multiracial identification despite the cultural and legal legacy of the “one drop of blood” rule in official U.S. race categorization. A subsequent survey experiment found that a convenience sample of Americans support multiracial identification for mixed‐race individuals generally and not only for the president.