Poll of Minorities Finds Bias, Anger Toward Whites : Survey: National Conference uncovers ‘a yawning gulf’ in perceptions of equal opportunity.

Minority groups have widespread prejudices toward one another while sharing animosity toward whites, a poll by a major ecumenical group has found.

The poll found “a yawning gulf between white and minority group perceptions about America,” said the group founded in 1927 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Eight in 10 blacks in the poll released Wednesday believe that their race lacks the opportunities enjoyed by whites. Six in 10 Latinos and nearly as many Asian Americans feel the same.

Each minority group feels the others have been discriminated against, too, while most whites say minorities have equal opportunities, the poll found.

“It’s a loud and strong and clear message to white America that you think things are better than your neighbors do,” said Karl Berolzheimer of the National Conference, as the group now calls itself.

Louis Harris, whose LH Research conducted the survey, is known for producing provocative results. In this poll, he did so by including ugly generalizations about minorities, which sizable numbers of Americans agreed with.

Some findings:

* More than four in 10 blacks and Latinos and 27% of whites concur with the stereotype that Asian Americans are “unscrupulous, crafty and devious in business.”

* Nearly half the Latinos and four in 10 blacks and whites agree with the statement that Muslims “belong to a religion that condones or supports terrorism.”

* Two in three minority group members agreed with assertions that white people are insensitive to other people, have a long history of bigotry and believe they can boss other people around.

Sanford Cloud Jr., named Wednesday as National Conference president, said the poll showed him that “there’s a lot of work that needs to be done within communities of color regarding their feelings toward each other.”

Cloud, the first black leader of the organization, said he was surprised such a large gap remained between white and minority views. He attributed it in part to people isolating themselves in their homes and being exposed to insensitive media portrayals of minorities.

“As long as we continue to have such differences of opinion we cannot possibly come together and reach our full potential as a nation,” he said. Discussing the intolerance exposed by the poll is necessary so the country can unite against problems like homelessness and street violence, he said.

LH Research said it polled nearly 2,755 people by phone. The Ford and Joyce foundations co-sponsored the study.

The interviewers told those polled they would read “some statements reflecting common attitudes.” They rotated alternated generalizations, such as Jews “are more loyal to Israel than to America,” with positive attributes, such as Jews “place a high value on education and achievement.”

Respondents only were asked about other groups, not their own.

Large majorities of those polled agreed with some of the positive statements, and an overwhelming number rejected the stereotype that blacks have less native intelligence. That view was held by 12%, down from 25% in a 1978 Harris survey.

At the end of the poll, respondents were asked if they were willing to work with groups very different from themselves for various good causes such as “to protect each other’s children from gangs and violence.” About nine in 10 in virtually every group said they would be willing. The poll also elicited endorsements for teaching cultural diversity.

The results are subject to a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.