Do most Americans think we exaggerate racial discrimination?

I'm tired of being labeled smart, talented, attractive & offensive. I have feelings like everyone else dagnamit.

Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist

BY KILEY HURST, PEW RESEARCH

Aug 25, 2023

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Black Americans’ civil rights, we asked U.S. adults what they think is the bigger problem when it comes to racial discrimination in the country today.

• 53% say people not seeing racial discrimination where it really does exist is the bigger problem.

• 45% point to people seeing racial discrimination where it really doesn’t exist as the larger issue.

Views on this have changed in recent years, according to Pew Research Center surveys. In 2019, 57% said people overlooking racial discrimination was the bigger problem, while 42% pointed to people seeing it where it really didn’t exist. That gap has narrowed from 15 to 8 percentage points.

Americans’ current views on this question differ greatly by:

• Race and ethnicity: 88% of Black adults say people overlooking discrimination is the bigger problem. Smaller majorities of Asian (66%) and Hispanic (58%) adults say the same, as do 45% of White adults.

• Partisanship: 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say people not seeing racial discrimination where it does exist is the larger issue. About three-quarters (74%) of Republicans and Republican leaners give the opposite answer.

How views on racial discrimination differ within political parties

Majorities of Republicans across age groups say people seeing racial discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the larger issue. But Republicans ages 50 and older are more likely than those under 50 to say this (78% vs. 68%).

Among Democrats, age differences aren’t as large, but there are differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Democrats are the most likely to say people seeing discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the bigger problem. Some 29% say this, compared with 20% of Asian Democrats, 19% of White Democrats and 8% of Black Democrats.