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A majority of U.S. adults say the decreasing share of Americans who identify their race as White is neither good nor bad for society, according to a recent survey.
About six-in-ten adults (61%) say the declining proportion of Americans who identify as White – a trend documented this month in new data from the Census Bureau about Americans who identify as solely White and not Hispanic – is neither good nor bad for society. About two-in-ten (22%) say it is bad, including 9% who say it is very bad. Slightly fewer (15%) say it is good for society, including 7% who say it is very good, according to the survey of 10,221 adults, conducted July 8-18, 2021.
A little more than a year after nationwide protests erupted after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police, the public is deeply divided over how far the nation has progressed in addressing racial inequality – and how much further it needs to go.
Opinion on the current national reckoning over the history of slavery and racism in the United States casts these divisions into stark relief: Among U.S. adults overall, 53% say increased attention to that history is a good thing for society, while 26% say it is a bad thing and another 21% say it is neither good nor bad.
A growing share of U.S. adults say it’s a bad thing for the country that some people have personal fortunes of a billion dollars or more, though a majority continue to say it is neither good nor bad, according to a new survey.
Roughly three-in-ten Americans (29%) now say the fact that there are some people who have personal fortunes of a billion dollars or more is a bad thing for the country, up from about a quarter (23%) in January 2020.
The share who say having billionaires is a good thing for the country has decreased somewhat over the same period, from 19% to 15%.
As public trust in the federal government remains low, Americans continue to say the federal government has a responsibility to provide support and services for all Americans in a number of forms.
U.S. adults broadly agree that it is the federal government’s role to provide clean air and water and high-quality K-12 education for all Americans. Meanwhile, fewer than half say it is a responsibility of the government to provide access to high-speed internet or a college education.
As issues about culture and identity continue to be at the center of heated political debates in the United States and Europe, a new survey finds that views about national identity in the U.S., France, Germany and the UK have become less restrictive and more inclusive in recent years. Compared with 2016 – when a wave of immigration to Europe and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the U.S. made immigration and diversity a major issue on both sides of the Atlantic – fewer now believe that to truly be American, French, German or British, a person must be born in the country, must be a Christian, has to embrace national customs, or has to speak the dominant language.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused, among other things, a debate around how to best rebuild national economies ravaged by the pandemic. Across the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, significant shares believe their economic system needs either major changes or a complete overhaul, according to a survey conducted in the late fall of 2020. Few in the four countries say their economy does not need any changes.
The desire for change is strongest in France, where seven-in-ten believe the economic system in their country needs either major changes or to be completely reformed. Half share this view in the U.S., UK and Germany, while around four-in-ten in these three nations say minor changes are warranted. Few would opt for no adjustments to the economic system, ranging from 3% in France to 12% in the U.S. Those who think the overall economic situation in their country is bad are more likely to call for major or total reforms to the system.
As they continue to struggle with a public health crisis and ongoing economic challenges, many people in the United States and Western Europe are also frustrated with politics.
A four-nation survey conducted in November and December of 2020 finds that roughly two-thirds of adults in France and the U.S., as well as about half in the United Kingdom, believe their political system needs major changes or needs to be completely reformed. Calls for significant reform are less common in Germany, where about four-in-ten express this view.
Of course, there are important differences across these countries’ political systems. But the four nations also share some important democratic principles, and all have recently experienced political upheaval in different ways, as rising populist leaders and movements and emerging new forces across the ideological spectrum have challenged traditional parties and leaders.
With stunning speed, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across borders, claiming victims and shutting down economies in nations across the globe. The crisis has generated a variety of policy responses from governments, with varying degrees of success. When asked how well different countries have responded to the outbreak, Americans give high marks to South Korea and Germany. In contrast, most believe China – where the pandemic is believed to have originated – has done an only fair or poor job.
There were 10.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2016, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The total is the lowest since 2004 and is tied to a decline in the number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants.
Over the past two years, Americans have become more likely to say it is “stressful and frustrating” to have political conversations with those they disagree with. The change in opinions has come largely among Democrats: 57% now say that talking about politics with people they disagree with is stressful and frustrating, up from 45% two years ago.
By contrast, Republicans’ feelings about political conversations with people they disagree have changed very little. About half (49%) continue to find such conversations stressful and frustrating.
Overall, 53% of Americans say talking about politics with people they disagree with is generally stressful and frustrating; fewer (45%) say such conversations are usually “interesting and informative.” In March 2016, during the presidential primaries, slightly more found such conversations interesting and informative (51%) than stressful and frustrating (46%).
Majorities of Republicans and Democrats say talking politics with people whose views differ does not lead to more common ground
A majority of Americans (63%) say that when they talk about politics with people they disagree with, they usually find they have “less in common” politically than they thought previously. Fewer than a third of Americans (31%) say they find they have more in common with people they disagree with politically.
There is little division across the partisan and ideological spectrum: More than six-in-ten in each group say they find that when they discuss politics with people they disagree with, they usually find they have “less in common” politically than they thought.
The United States has a religious makeup that’s broadly similar to that of many Western European countries. Most people on both sides of the Atlantic say they are Christian, for example. At the same time, substantial shares in the U.S. and Europe say they are religiously unaffiliated: Roughly a quarter of the American adult population identify as “nones,” similar to the shares in Germany, the United Kingdom and other Western European countries.
At that point, however, the similarities end: U.S. adults – both Christian and unaffiliated – are considerably more religious than their European counterparts by a variety of other measures. For instance, about two-thirds of U.S. Christians pray daily (68%), compared with a median of just 18% of Christians across 15 surveyed countries in Europe.
When looking at all adults, Americans also are much more likely than Western Europeans to believe in God as described in the Bible. More than half of Americans (56%) say this is the case. That’s about twice the regional median in Western Europe (27%).
Roughly seven-in-ten Russians say their government did not try to meddle in the U.S. presidential election in 2016. In contrast, 85% say the U.S. tries to shape the internal affairs of other countries. Globally, Russians believe their country is playing an increasingly important role.
There are glaring differences between Europe and the United States when it comes to foreign language education. A median of 92% of European primary and secondary students are learning a foreign language in school, compared with just 20% of K-12 students in the U.S.
About six-in-ten Americans say the higher education system in the United States is going in the wrong direction, with the cost of tuition cited as a top reason.
Republicans and Democrats are worlds apart when it comes to some of the reasons why they think higher education is going in the wrong direction. Among Republicans with this view, three-quarters or more cite professors bringing their political and social views into the classroom (79%) and too much concern about protecting students from views they might find offensive (75%) as major reasons.
About three-quarters of Republicans (73%) say one major reason higher education is off track is that students are not getting the skills they need to succeed in the workplace; this compares with 56% of Democrats. And Democrats are somewhat more likely to say high tuition is a major reason the system isn’t working (92%, compared with 77% of Republicans).
Turnout has surged in the 31 states that have held their U.S. House primaries so far this year, in part because more primaries are contested. Nearly 13.6 million people have voted in Democratic primaries, up from 7.4 million at the same point in the 2014 midterm cycle. Republican turnout has also increased, but less so, climbing from 8.6 million to 10.7 million.