Oklahoma Poll shows racial divide on renaming Brady Arts District

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer

A majority of Tulsans oppose changing the name of Tulsa's Brady Arts District, but opinions on the issue are sharply divided along racial lines, the latest Oklahoma Poll revealed.

The district is named for Brady Street, the district's main thoroughfare. The street, in turn, was named for early Tulsan W. Tate Brady.

Overall, 56 percent of the 400 likely Tulsa voters surveyed June 1-5 said they were against the change. Of those, more than two-thirds were strongly opposed.

Twenty-seven percent supported the proposed change.

Among black respondents, however, nearly 70 percent wanted the name changed and almost three-fourths said they felt strongly about the issue.

About 60 percent of whites opposed the move - again, with a substantial portion of them strongly opposed - while 22 percent favored it.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents identified themselves as white or Caucasian. Twelve percent said they were black or African-American. The remainder of the respondents were of other ethnicities or did not respond to the question.

Even among those favoring the name change, there was anecdotal evidence that Brady is not well known.

"I've lived here all my life," said 79-year-old Linda Davis. "I'd never heard of him until all of this came up recently."

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About the Oklahoma Poll

The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted June 1-5 by SoonerPoll.com, using a random digit-dialing technique that included cellphone and landline telephone numbers. Results were weighted by gender, age and party. The poll was sponsored by the Tulsa World. The margin of error is ±4.9 percentage points.

This poll conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. A complete description of the methodology can be found here.