Poll: Americans are twice as likely to say racism is a “big problem” compared to 6 years ago

America is getting woke.

That’s the takeaway of a new poll by the Pew Research Center, which found more Americans — both white and black — now say racism is a “big problem” in the US. In August 2017, 58 percent of US adults said racism is a big problem, up from 41 percent in September 1995 and 50 percent in July 2015. Just between 2011 and 2017, the chances of Americans saying racism is a “big problem” more than doubled.

The poll was conducted from August 15 to 21, reaching nearly 1,900 US adults.

There is a difference by party affiliation, with Democrats much more likely to say racism is a big problem than they were a few years back and Republicans actually less likely to say the same. But the trends are actually fairly similar based on race, with a majority of white Americans now saying racism is a big problem.

One explanation is that, primed particularly by President Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric and the Black Lives Matter movement, Democrats became more aware of racism while Republicans became more dismissive of accusations of racism.

It’s also possible that Trump and Black Lives Matter primed the political parties in another way: They helped sort people into different parties based on their views on race. So in hearing Trump’s racist rhetoric and the message of Black Lives Matter, maybe some former Republicans who are concerned about racism became Democrats, and some former Democrats who are dismissive of racism became Republicans. That wouldn’t necessarily involve people changing their views about race, but it would influence Pew’s polling results when broken down by party.

Or all the above could have happened, along with a host of other issues that a broad survey can’t tease out.

One caveat: The poll was taken a few days after white supremacists descended upon and terrorized Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s likely this event, which drew a lot of media attention nationwide, made people more willing to say racism is a big problem. The question is whether that shift will hold, or if it will fade with time.

The end result, though, is that more Americans are seemingly concerned about racism now than they have been in at least 22 years.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via