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

type="main"> <title type="main">Objective</title> <p>We use nationally representative survey experiments to assess public opinion about how President Obama should have identified himself racially on the 2010 Census. </section> <title type="main">Methods</title> <p>Respondents 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. </section> <title type="main">Results</title> <p>A clear majority of Americans in all experimental conditions said that Obama should have identified himself as both black and white. </section> <title type="main">Conclusion</title> <p>There 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.</section>