US Stereotypes of Latin Americans, 1940
On December 10, 1940, the Office of Public Opinion Research conducted a nation-wide poll in the US. Respondents were given a card with nineteen words on it and were asked to indicate those words that seemed to describe best the people of Central and South America. Since respondents were asked to pick as many descriptive terms as they
liked, percentages add to considerably more than 100. The results were as follows:
| Dark-skinned 80%
|
Imaginative 23%
|
|
Quick-tempered 49%
|
Shrewd16%
|
|
Emotional 47%
|
Intelligent 15%
|
|
Religious 45%
|
Honest 13%
|
|
Backward 44%
|
Brave 12%
|
|
Lazy 41%
|
Generous 12%
|
|
Ignorant 34%
|
Progressive 11%
|
|
Suspicious 32%
|
Efficient 5%
|
|
Friendly 30%
|
No answer 4%
|
|
Dirty 28%
|
No opinion 0%
|
|
Proud 26%
|
|
Sources: John
J. Johnson, Latin America in Caricature Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1980), p. 18; Hadley Cantril, ed., Public Opinion,
1935-1946 (Princeton: Princeton University Press,1951), p.
502.
|