Using data from a New York Times poll conducted in 2000, we analyze whites' approval of interracial marriage by examining the contexts in which whites have contact with blacks. The contexts can be ordered by the type of contact they provide, from close and personal to distant or hierarchical. The results of our analysis show that the type of contact engendered by a variety of contexts is important in determining attitudes toward interracial marriage. The contacts in most of the social settings are associated with friendship; the contexts are related to approval of interracial marriage even when friendship, age, gender, income, political party, and region are included in the analysis.
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