Washington, DC

The African American Research Collaborative (AARC) in partnership with the NAACP and the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) at Yale School of Medicine presented new polling detailing on May 19 on the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on African American communities.

The poll is the first of its kind, with a deep dive into how African Americans are responding to the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

• 80% of those polled preferred to hold off on ending the shutdown to assure their safety ahead of boosting the economy;

• 64% of African Americans agree they are less likely than Whites to be offered Coronavirus/COVID-19 testing and 60% agree they are less likely than Whites to have everything done to save their lives in the hospital;

• 80% of African Americans think that President Trump has done a poor job of responding to the Coronavirus pandemic, with 59% saying the same about the federal government;

• 75% of African Americans think that Donald Trump is the single most dangerous threat to African American people;

• 66% believe that race is a factor in police treatment in regards to re-open protestors, and that 58% do not trust police to fairly and equally enforce rules about social distancing.

It demonstrates how devastating economically and personally the pandemic has been on African American families and how little trust they have in the federal government and President Trump.

It is clear from our survey that African Americans are very concerned, not only about the racially-disparate impact of COVID-19 but also about the federal government’s laissez-faire approach to slowing down the spread of the virus,” said Dr. Ray Block, Director of the Research Project for AARC and Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies, Penn State University.