Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Visit us at pewresearch.org
A majority of U.S. adults say the decreasing share of Americans who identify their race as White is neither good nor bad for society, according to a recent survey.
About six-in-ten adults (61%) say the declining proportion of Americans who identify as White – a trend documented this month in new data from the Census Bureau about Americans who identify as solely White and not Hispanic – is neither good nor bad for society. About two-in-ten (22%) say it is bad, including 9% who say it is very bad. Slightly fewer (15%) say it is good for society, including 7% who say it is very good, according to the survey of 10,221 adults, conducted July 8-18, 2021.
A little more than a year after nationwide protests erupted after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police, the public is deeply divided over how far the nation has progressed in addressing racial inequality – and how much further it needs to go.
Opinion on the current national reckoning over the history of slavery and racism in the United States casts these divisions into stark relief: Among U.S. adults overall, 53% say increased attention to that history is a good thing for society, while 26% say it is a bad thing and another 21% say it is neither good nor bad.
The public is about evenly split on whether the increased focus on issues of race and racial inequality in the country in the past three months will lead to major policy changes to address racial inequality (48% say it will and 51% say it will not). A sizable share (46%) say this will not lead to changes that will improve the lives of Black people. And while a majority say the heightened attention to racial issues represents a change in the way most Americans think about these issues, just 34% say this represents a major change.
The coronavirus outbreak continues to have far-reaching health and economic consequences for the American public. But for many, especially Black and Asian Americans, the effects extend beyond medical and financial concerns. About four-in-ten Black and Asian adults say people have acted as if they were uncomfortable around them because of their race or ethnicity since the beginning of the outbreak, and similar shares say they worry that other people might be suspicious of them if they wear a mask when out in public, according to a new survey.
Days of protests across the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police have brought new attention to questions about police officers’ attitudes toward black Americans, protesters and others. The public’s views of the police, in turn, are also in the spotlight. Here’s a roundup of Pew Research Center survey findings from the past few years about the intersection of race and law enforcement.
About three-quarters of black adults in the U.S. say that being black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves.
Black History Month, which is celebrated every year in February, honors the achievements of black Americans throughout history. It’s also a time to reflect on larger themes of identity and community. Findings from Pew Research Center surveys conducted in recent years show that most black adults feel that they are part of a broader black community in the United States and see their race as important to how they think of themselves.
The predominant view among Democrats – expressed by 73% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents – is that there is a lot or some discrimination against blacks and little or no discrimination against whites.
By contrast, only about a quarter of Republicans (23%) share these views. A larger share (38%) says there is a lot or some discrimination against both races; 22% say both blacks and whites face little or no discrimination; and 17% say whites face at least some discrimination, but blacks do not.
About six-in-ten Hispanics have experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity, though their experiences vary by skin color.
Latinos with darker skin are more likely than those with lighter skin to report a specific incident of discrimination. A majority of Latinos with a darker skin color (55%) say that, because of their race or ethnicity, people have acted as if they were not smart, compared with 36% of Latinos with a lighter skin color. Similarly, about half of Latinos with darker skin (53%) say they have been subject to slurs or jokes, compared with about a third of those with a lighter skin color (34%).
Black Americans are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to say their family talked to them about challenges they might face because of their race when they were growing up.
Did you and your family have conversations like this? #TalkingAboutRace
For more on Americans’ views on race, read our full report: Race in America 2019
Most Americans (65%) – including majorities across racial and ethnic groups – say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected president.
Our new report on how Americans see race in 2019 finds:
Most U.S. adults say the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on the position of black people in American society today.
More than four-in-ten Americans say the U.S. hasn’t made enough progress toward racial equality
Some Americans, particularly blacks, are skeptical that black people will ever have equal rights with whites in the U.S.
58% of Americans say race relations in the U.S. are bad, and of those, few see them improving
A 56% majority of Americans say Trump has done too little to distance himself from white nationalist groups; 29% say he has done about the right amount to distance himself from such groups, while 7% say he has done too much. These views are virtually unchanged since December 2016, shortly before Trump took office.
As with other attitudes about Trump, views on whether he has done enough to distance himself from white nationalism are deeply divided by party, with Democrats more than three times as likely as Republicans to say Trump has not done enough to distance himself from white nationalist groups.
While a slight majority of Americans think it is generally unacceptable to use blackface in a Halloween costume, about one-in-three say it is acceptable at least sometimes.
White adults are about twice as likely as black adults to say the use of blackface as part of a Halloween costume can be acceptable: 39% of whites hold this view vs. 19% of blacks. Hispanics fall in the middle, with 28% saying this is always or sometimes acceptable.
There also are wide partisan gaps in views of whether it’s ever acceptable for whites to use makeup to darken their skin to appear to be a different race as part of a Halloween costume. About half of Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party (51%) say this is acceptable at least sometimes, while a majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners (67%) say blackface is not acceptable.
About
six-in-ten U.S. adults say that growing racial and ethnic diversity in America makes
the country a better place to live. Views differ widely by party and
ideology, as well as by educational attainment.
Nearly eight-in-ten black Americans identify as Christian, compared with 70% of whites, 77% of Latinos and just 34% of Asian Americans.
Meanwhile, about seven-in-ten blacks are Protestant, compared with less than half of the public overall (47%), including 48% of whites, roughly a quarter of Latinos and 17% of Asian Americans.
Women in STEM jobs are more likely than their male counterparts to have experienced discrimination in the workplace and to believe that discrimination is a major reason there are not more women in STEM. Additionally, black STEM workers are more likely than workers from other racial or ethnic backgrounds to cite a range of race-related slights and inequities at work. Read key findings from the report.
