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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are less certain today than in the recent past that equality of economic opportunity exists for Black Americans. This is seen in slimmer majorities perceiving there to be equality for Black people in employment or housing in their own communities. Also, less than half of Americans believe racial minorities, generally, have the same job opportunities as White people in the U.S. And six in 10 now favor affirmative action programs for racial minorities, up from less than half a decade ago.

Job and Housing Fairness in Own Community

Currently, 55% of U.S. adults, similar to 58% in 2020 but down from over 70% as recently as 2011, say Black people have as good a chance as White people in their community to get any kind of job for which they are qualified. Forty-four percent now disagree with this sentiment, in line with the 42% recorded last year but otherwise the highest since 麻豆传媒AV's earliest readings, in 1963.

Similarly, 60% of Americans currently say Black people have the same chance as White people to get any housing they can afford. While roughly the same as last year's 63%, this is down from 67% in 2018 and around 80% from 1997 through 2015. Just under four in 10 (39%) now disagree that Black people have the same housing opportunities as White people in their community.

These findings are from 麻豆传媒AV's June 1-July 5 Minority Rights and Relations survey. The survey includes oversamples of Black and Hispanic Americans, weighted to their correct proportion of the population, to allow for reliable reporting of these groups' views.

Equality of Job Opportunity in the Country

Separately, the poll finds less than half of Americans -- 40% -- believing racial minorities, generally, in the country have equal job opportunities with White people, down from 45% in the last measurement in 2018 and from 53% in 2008.

The majority of Americans, 59%, do not think racial minorities have equal job opportunities, as was the case in the 2016 (52%) and 2018 (54%) surveys.

Support for Affirmative Action at Two-Decade High

Along with diminished confidence in equality of opportunity in jobs and housing, 麻豆传媒AV finds increased support for "affirmative action programs" for racial minorities.

Sixty-two percent of adults now favor such programs, roughly tying the 61% found in 2018. But this is up from 54% in 2016 and is the highest in the trend since 2001. In that initial measure, 47% favored it. The question does not specify a type of affirmative action program, such as in the workplace or for college admissions; however, since the survey asks about racial fairness in jobs, but not education, respondents may be thinking more about jobs in answering it.

Black Americans Remain Distinctly Dubious About Equal Opportunity

Belief that racial equality exists in the job market has declined to a similar degree among Black, White and Hispanic Americans over the past decade.

However, significant racial gaps have persisted throughout 麻豆传媒AV's trend on this since 1963. Majorities of White Americans -- now 61% -- contrasted with less than half of Black Americans (now 31%), believe that Black people have the same chance as White people to get a job in their community.

The views of Hispanic Americans, which 麻豆传媒AV has tracked on this since 2004, have been much closer to those of White than Black Americans.

The trends by race are similar with respect to perceptions that Black people have the same chance as White people in their community to get any housing they can afford.

There have been 20 percentage point declines since 2013 in the percentages of Black and White Americans saying equal housing exists for Black people in their community. Belief in this has declined from 85% to 65% over this period among White adults and from 56% to 36% among Black adults.

As with White adults, a majority of Hispanic adults believe that equal housing opportunity exists for Black people in their community, but this declined from 77% in 2013 to 63% today.

Most of the decline since 2008 in Americans' belief that racial minorities in the country have the same job opportunities as White people is owing to shifts in White and Black adults' views. There has been little change in perceptions on this measure among Hispanic adults.

• Just 14% of Black Americans, down from a high of 24% in 2008, say racial majorities have the same job opportunities as White people in the U.S.
• For the first time, less than half of White Americans (46%) perceive equal job opportunities for racial minorities, down from a high of 60% in 2008.
• The 42% of Hispanic Americans who think equal job opportunities exist is within the 41% to 45% range seen most years since 2001.

Meanwhile, support for affirmative action has increased since 2016 among White and Hispanic adults, to 57% and 79%, respectively. Prior to that, fewer than half of White adults and just over six in 10 Hispanic adults favored it. At the same time, support declined among Black adults, from 75% in 2016 to 69% today.

The percentage of Black adults favoring affirmative action today is similar to what it was in the early 2000s, while the rates are significantly higher among White and Hispanic adults.

Bottom Line

Americans have become less confident in recent years that equality exists for Black people in the nation, as well as in their own community. Consistent with Americans' tendency to be more positive about local than national conditions in a number of areas, the majority (albeit diminished) still believe Black adults have the same chance as White people in their community to get jobs or housing, while less than half (now 40%) perceive racial equality exists nationally.

Some decline in belief that racial equality exists has occurred since 2019, spanning the upwelling of concern about racial justice sparked by George Floyd's death. But Americans were already becoming more skeptical following the peak of optimism in 2009 -- President Barack Obama's first year in office. In later years, particularly after 2013, public perceptions of Black-White relations began to deteriorate over several cases of unarmed Black men being killed during encounters with White police officers.

Coincident with these trends, majorities of Black, White and Hispanic Americans now share a favorable view of affirmative action. One thing that hasn't changed is the racial gap in attitudes about equal rights, with Black Americans maintaining a much more negative outlook than White Americans.

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