Charles Hallman, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
- Ethnic Americans say they have a far better image of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), otherwise known as the $751 billion federal stimulus package Congress passed almost nine months ago, than do Whites.
New America Media (NAM) surveyed 1,000 individuals in August and September on whether or not ARRA has helped them, and found that 84 percent of Blacks, 67 percent of Latinos and Native Americans, and 62 percent of Asian Americans think that the stimulus is good for their families or communities. Only 45 percent of Whites expressed the same view.
Overall, 54 percent of all Americans think the stimulus has helped, the NAM poll indicated.
However, since the poll results were released in October, NAM officials believe that most ethnic adults as well as Whites remain unsure of ARRA’s actual benefits. “Much of the stimulus money has not been spent,” NAM’s Aaron Glantz points out. “A third of it [is] tax cuts — you are getting it every two weeks [in payroll checks], and [many] don’t even know it. It’s not much.”
