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

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.