Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist
53% of U.S. adults say people overlooking racial discrimination is a bigger problem than people seeing it where it really didn’t exist.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
53% of U.S. adults say people overlooking racial discrimination is a bigger problem than people seeing it where it really didn’t exist.
Today, 51% of U.S. adults say they support the Black Lives Matter movement – down from 67% in June 2020. A majority of Americans say the increased focus on race and racial inequality in the past three years hasn’t led to improvement for Black Americans.
About half of Black adults (52%) say racism in U.S. laws is the bigger problem for Black people, while 43% cite racism by individuals.
Here’s a closer look at what recent surveys have found about Americans’ views of affirmative action.
Half of U.S. adults say they disapprove of selective colleges and universities taking prospective students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds into account when making admissions decisions. 33% approve of colleges considering race and ethnicity to increase diversity at the schools, while 16% are not sure.
32% of Black adults said they worried every day or almost every day that they might be threatened or attacked because of their race or ethnicity.
About half of Asian adults who have heard of affirmative action (53%) say it is a good thing, 19% say it is a bad thing, and 27% say they don’t know whether it is good or bad. However, about three-quarters of all Asian adults (76%) say race or ethnicity should not factor into college admissions decisions.
Most Asian Americans say violence against them is increasing, and most also worry at least some of the time about being threatened or attacked.
Black Americans support significant reforms to or complete overhauls of several U.S. institutions to ensure fair treatment. Yet even as they assess inequality and ideas about progress, many are pessimistic about whether society and institutions will change in ways that would reduce racism.
Most favor protecting trans people from discrimination, but fewer support policies related to medical care for gender transitions; many are uneasy with the pace of change on trans issues.
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