Americans Say Blacks More Racist Than Whites, Hispanics, Asians

Americans believe blacks are more racist than whites, Hispanics and Asians in this country.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 75% of American Adults think the term “racism” refers to any discrimination by people of one race against another. Just 15% say it refers only to discrimination by white people against minorities. These findings have changed little in surveys for the past several years. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighteen percent (18%) say most white Americans are racist. But 25% believe most black Americans are racist. Fifteen percent (15%) think most Hispanic-Americans are racist, while nearly as many (13%) say the same of most Asian-Americans.

These findings parallel surveying done in 2013, although Americans were even more likely at that time to identify blacks as the most racist group.

Among adults who think racism refers only to discrimination by whites, 36% consider most white Americans racist versus 21% who feel that way about most black Americans. Sixteen percent (16%) of these adults say most Hispanic-Americans are racist, and 19% feel most Asian-Americans are racist.

Among Americans who identify racism as any discrimination by people of one race against another, 15% say most whites in this country are racist, compared to 27% of blacks. Fifteen percent (15%) of these adults think most Hispanic-Americans are racist, as are 13% of Asian-Americans.

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The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted July 21-22, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Only 25% of Americans think race relations in this country are getting better, while 43% say they are getting worse. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of blacks – and 22% of all Americans – think most Americans are racist.

Three-quarters of whites, blacks and other minorities agree that racism refers to any discrimination by people of one race against another.

Blacks see themselves, whites, Hispanics and Asians as equally racist. Whites consider themselves more racist than Hispanics and Asians in this country but less racist than blacks.

Other minority Americans view blacks as much more racist than whites, Hispanics and Asians.

Democrats (21%) are more likely than Republicans (10%) and those not affiliated with either major party (12%) to see racism as referring only to discrimination by white people. Democrats see whites as the most racist group of Americans. Republicans and unaffiliated adults view blacks as the most racist.

Given a choice between black lives matter and all lives matter, 44% of blacks – and 30% of all voters - say black lives matter more.

With race-driven anti-police protests nationwide, one-in-three voters continue to believe America is on the brink of another civil war.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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