Benign neglect?

Between 1976 and 1978, a question whether "the government has paid too much attention to the problems of blacks and other minorities" was asked eight times.  Then there was a long gap, before a question whether "over the past couple of decades, the government has paid too much attention to the problems of blacks and other minorities" appeared once in 2010 and twice in 2012.  The average results:

                     Agree            Disagree          DK
1970s              43%                47%              10%
2010s              36%                61%                6%

The difference is highly significant, with a t-ratio of over 5.

[Source:  iPOLL, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]