A new survey on views of race in the U.S. offers up some bombshells, starting with the fact that more than one-half of Americans think Donald Trump has made race relations worse. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say that “it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected president.” White Democrats are somewhat more likely than black Democrats to say Trump has made things worse, while Republicans are more likely to say that Trump has improved race relations than to acknowledge that he’s made things worse.
The survey, by the Pew Research Center, offers something of a field guide to white delusions about race, with a special focus on the chasm between white Republicans and white Democrats. Just 15 percent of white Republicans say the U.S. hasn’t done enough to give black people equal rights to white people, and more than twice that number of white Republicans actually think the country has done too much for racial equality. Republicans also think that people seeing racial discrimination where it doesn’t really exist is a bigger problem than people failing to see discrimination where it does exist.
By contrast, 64 percent of white Democrats recognize that the U.S. hasn’t done enough to promote equal rights, and white Democrats are far more likely to point to unacknowledged racial discrimination as a problem than they are to whine that racial discrimination complaints are false.
About two-thirds of black people say that being black makes it harder for a person to get ahead; just 55 percent of white people agree with that, but it’s the breakdown in why they agree that’s particularly interesting. White Democrats echo black people by pointing to racial discrimination and less access to good schools and high-paying jobs. White Republicans blame black people, by naming family instability, lack of good role models, and lack of motivation to work hard. Really.
A majority—though not a large enough one—of white people can bring themselves to admit that black people are not treated fairly in the criminal justice system or in dealing with police. But white people continue to embrace the false belief that black people are treated fairly in hiring, pay, and promotions; in applying for loans and mortgages; in voting; by the medical system; and in stores and restaurants. (White people! These are not matters of opinion. These are facts, and a majority of us are in denial. Do better!)
Large majorities of black and Asian people and a somewhat smaller majority of Latino people say they’ve personally experienced discrimination. But, of course, a majority of white Republicans are more worried about the possibility that those people saying they’ve experienced discrimination didn’t really face it.