Racial Bias & Discrimination

While most Americans say they have friends of a different race, pluralities of whites, blacks and Hispanics say they only have a few.

Overview As Barack Obama prepares to take office, majorities say the country is losing ground on any number of key issues, particularly economic ones. Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) say the country is falling further behind on the federal budget deficit, far more than said that during the mid-1990s when the deficit was a top-tier policy issue. […]

Despite pro-diversity attitudes expressed in a Pew survey, American communities appear to have grown more politically and economically homogenous in recent decades.

Half (50%) of all Latinos say that the situation of Latinos in this country is worse now than it was a year ago.

Two in three Americans believe personal factors, rather than racial discrimination, explain why many African Americans have difficulty getting ahead in life.

Two-thirds of all African Americans report that discrimination is commonly encountered when blacks apply for a job (67%), a view shared by only 20% of whites and 36% of Hispanics.

The 2007 National Survey of Latinos (NSL) coincided with a period of increased local- and state-level legislative actions, and stepped-up enforcement measures that accompanied the growing national debate over illegal immigration.

The 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June to strike down school desegregation plans in Seattle and Louisville has focused public attention on the degree of racial and ethnic integration in the nation’s 93,845 public schools.

Latinos are feeling more discriminated against, politically energized and unified following the immigration policy debate and the pro-immigration marches this spring.

Summary of Findings As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for what could be a landmark ruling on the issue of racial preferences in college admissions, a new Pew Research Center nationwide survey finds a growing majority of the public supporting the general idea of affirmative action. But the poll results also reflect the public’s complicated […]