Race, Ethnicity & Politics

The historic moment may not have come as a surprise to many. Twenty years ago, about half of Americans (54%) thought the chances were good that we would have a black president by now, according to a 1993 Gallup/CNN/USA Today survey of U.S. adults, while 45% thought the chances were slim.

Three-quarters of Latinos living in the U.S. say that their community needs a national leader, but about the same share either cannot name one or don’t believe one exists, according to a new national survey of 5,103 Latino adults conducted by the Pew Research Center from May 24 to July 28, 2013. When asked in […]

The Obama administration has provided a way for young unauthorized immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S., but the total number of deportations of unauthorized immigrants continue at near record levels.

Five decades after Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., a new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that fewer than half (45%) of all Americans say the country has made substantial progress toward racial equality and about the same share (49%) say that “a lot more” remains to be done.

Overview The public is divided over the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial and over the conversation about race that has surrounded it. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted July 17-21 among 1,480 adults nationwide finds roughly as many satisfied with the verdict in the case (39%) as dissatisfied […]

Will there be “an electoral bonanza for Democrats” if the nation’s estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants are eventually granted the right to vote? The data provide some insights.

Overview The final days of the trial of George Zimmerman, which concluded July 13 with a verdict of not guilty, attracted relatively modest public interest overall. In a weekend survey, 26% say they were following news about the trial very closely. This is lower than interest in the initial controversy over Trayvon Martin’s shooting when […]

America’s struggles with race and racism are never completely out of the news. But it is hard to remember when a series of stories have given this issue such resonance, whether in the rulings of the Supreme Court on affirmative action and voting rights, a tense trial in a Florida courtroom and even the racially insensitive comments of a celebrity chef.

Latinos’ views of same-sex marriage have changed dramatically in recent years. In 2012 for the first time, more Latinos said they favored same-sex marriage than opposed it (52% versus 34%) according to Pew Hispanic Center surveys.

While a record 11.2 million Latinos voted in the 2012 presidential election, an even greater number – 12.1 million—eligible voters did not do so.